It’s a bit warmer in Belleville this January 1st…than last. Still, it warms my heart to recall the rascally encounter I had with the Holy One a year ago today. Perhaps you’ll enjoy the tale, too…
Today’s find: Sign of Jonah
I spent part of Christmas Eve in self-imposed exile, and there encountered an awesome blessing.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Christmas Carols, Christmas Eve, Christmas Octave, Incarnation, Incarnation Mystery, newborn savior, Portal, Sign of Jonah, Sign of Jonas, Thomas Merton
Today’s find: The Star of Christmas
Ever notice? This time of year, the stars seem especially bright. It’s almost as if the sky is clearer…and the heavens are closer to earth… than they are in the summertime.
Categories: Uncategorized
Today’s find: The Star of Christmas
Ever notice? This time of year, the stars seem especially bright. It’s almost as if the sky is clearer…and the heavens are closer to earth… than they are in the summertime.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Christmas, Happy Birthday, Incarnation Mystery, Jesus, Nativity, Star of Christmas
Today’s find: Sanctuary (temporary)
My feeble brain had a tough time processing what I saw this morning when I strolled into the commons of the local middle school: Chairs, chairs, everywhere – some already in tidy rows; others stacked, pending placement. All of them, awaiting the crowds on Christmas Eve.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Advent, Advent 2018, Beyond All Names, Christmas Eve, God, Impermanent Pews, O Antiphons, O Radiant Dawn, Sacred Space, Sanctuary, Temporary Sanctuary
Today’s find: Trouble
A comforting aroma…fresh-baked cookies!…filled our kitchen yesterday afternoon. Mommy, Grandma and Big Brother stood just a few feet away, stirring the next batch. Gramps was holding him snug, in a firm and loving embrace.
Still, somehow, little Jonah concluded that everything was not right with his world. Quicker than you can say “ginger snap,” he started going all-Ray-LaMontagne on me.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Advent, Advent 2018, Canticle of Zechariah, Christmas Cookies, O Antiphons, O Root of Jesse, Trouble, Zechariah
Today’s find: Plumbing the generations
It occurs to me that faucet repairs, like salvation history, tend to require a lot of manpower.
At least, that’s the legacy I seem to have received from my father.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Advent, Advent 2018, DIY, Faucet repair, Genealogy of Jesus, O Antiphons, O Wisdom, Plumbing, Torque Wrench
Today’s find: Party time
I know for a fact that at one time in their lives, these ladies would have started the party at 10:30 PM…not be wrapping it up at that hour.
Not that I’m complaining.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Christmas Cookie Exchange, Cookie Exchange, Cookie Party, Gaudete, Gaudete Sunday, Isaiah, Isaiah 12, Sirach, Third Sunday of Advent
Today’s (#TBT) find: Flannery
Something tells me Flannery O’Connor would have registered a complaint, had she been with us at Mass today (just as she might have a couple of years ago, when I originally floated this post).
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Advent, Flannery O'Connor, It Is Well, Kristene DiMarco, Maranatha, Prophet, The Violent Bear It Away
Today’s find: Snap!
I was trying to be helpful – really, I was, in my “Gramps” sort of way. Instead, I wound up setting off a mini-crisis.
Or perhaps I should say “sitting off.”
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Baptism, Baptismal Candle, Beeswax, Grandson Jonah, Jonah Ambrose, Second Sunday of Advent, Snap
With Us Still 