To be human at all, is to celebrate and commemorate, to laugh and weep, to worry and rejoice. When we do these things in thoughtful community they become full and sacred. This is because the holy itself is composed of the commonplace of each life. * * * * * * * * * * […]
Of Science, Bison Bones, and Eternity
On a side trip last year while camping my way to the west coast, I found myself casting up dust along a tooth-jarring washboard road across Nebraska’s badlands. After twenty miles I arrived at a gravel parking lot, from which a dirt path led down to a Monet-like pond. Glassy water mirrored sky, cattails, willow, […]
Educated by a Rumpy Cat
He’s the cutest kitten you ever saw, at least until he stands up. Then you see something’s not right. He doesn’t quite look like a kitten. Maybe like a gerbil. Or like his name, “Little Bear.” About every six months, my better half, Kate, fosters a litter of kittens from the local animal shelter. It’s […]
Little Celebrations #8: Liturgical Quotables
We arrive here out of many walks of life. We wear clothing of different patterns and our feet go in boots or shoes or sandals. Some read magazines, others read novels, still others read technical works or works of history. But gathered in community our hearts beat together, we laugh together, our tears are of […]
A Reflection on Wounded Knee
This December 29th will mark the 125th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre. As students of American history probably already know, this 1890 horror was, in a real way, the end of the so-called “Indian Wars.” That is, it marked the final crushing blow specifically against the Lakota on the Great Plains, but symbolically against […]