In many spiritual traditions, the world was brought into being through a single word. If we are made in that divine image, then our speech is our most creative—and destructive—power. I learned this lesson the hard way in school when I told an inappropriate joke. To this day, I don’t know what motivated me to…
Set In My Ways — Breaking the Inertia of the Soul
It is a subtle gravity that takes hold as the years pass—the law of spiritual and physical inertia. We often find comfort in the predictable, mistaking a rigid routine for a stable life. Yet, while we serve a God who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” we also serve a Creator who is the…
The Sacred Geometry
There is a quiet, almost liturgical beauty in the reversal of roles. We spend much of our lives defined by the directions in which we pour our energy: the mentor pours into the student, the parent into the child, the partner into the beloved. These roles feel like fixed points on a compass, providing us…
The Infinite Horizon — Reflection On Potential
Marvin Kalb, at age 97, recently published an article meticulously untangling a Russian plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II. As a fellow member of a national Zoom book group, I watch him with awe; he is often more engaged and “with it” than most of the other participants. His work is more than a…
Doing Nothing
Yesterday, while at a check-up, a nurse asked me a simple, lighthearted question: “What do you like to do the most at the beach?” Without thinking, I answered, “Nothing.” We both laughed, sharing that brief, knowing connection that comes with admitting a small “laziness.” But as the laughter subsided, I tried to explain myself. I…