Caught in the act

I drove up Tuesday afternoon to see my spiritual director at the old Jesuit novitiate in Wernersville. I had a glorious walk - including a round through the cemetery (inspired by Stratoz). There were only a couple of other guests in the house, including a visiting Franciscan, a guest director for the retreat to begin in a couple of days.

Just before dinner, I'd been on the computer on the first floor...and startled when the visiting director came through the door looking for the computer. A bit of guilt do we think? I promised to be done in a moment.

I was enjoying my tea after dinner, reading a terrific article in Commonweal about anchoresses and reveling in being momentarily unneeded when I realized my Franciscan friend was standing next to me. "Could you please tell me the password to the computer?" A bit of IT help was fair penance for my earlier indulgence.

Fifty Daffodils

...for fifty years.

Welcome Home Gifts

My kids waited up for my return from New Orleans. "What did you bring us?" was not what greeted me - but a bright green post-it arrow inscribed "I love you! Barnacle Boy" directing me to a plastic bag containing a freshly baked M&M cookie. I did bring them molecular t-shirts...about which they were very excited. The Boy's features nepetalactone (the active ingredient in catnip). Crash got Kevlar on his.

Fluffy had a gift for me, too. She left it on the doormat, all four paws to the sky. Welcome home!

Let God off the Holy Cards

My next column is up here. What happens if you ditch the two-dimensional images of God and let your imagination loose in prayer...

Alpha and Omega

On my way back to the airport in New Orleans, I spotted a squat, bright blue glass building to the side of I-10. It looked like it had been transported directly from the early 70s and was vaguely the worse for wear. In 1 story high letters on its side: Omega Hospital. It was all a bit offputting and I couldn't quite figure out why, until the phrase "the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end" wafted through my brain. Why would you name a hospital for something that evoked "the end"?