Vocations

For those of us who orient our lives around the academic calendar, June is generally a time of transition. Another school year has ended and summer is beginning, a respite from the normal routines that occupy most of the year. Even a busy summer (as mine generally...

I don’t plan everything, but I do plan a whole lot. At the same time, I recognize that the world has never fallen apart because something didn’t go according to my schedule. Although I don’t believe God to be a micromanaging puppet master pulling all the strings,...

There are different kinds of endings we face in our lives. Some are jarringly sudden. Other endings transpire unobserved and only become apparent in hindsight. Sometimes its nice to have advance notice.

Lent isn’t typically portrayed as the happiest time of the year. There’s a traditional school of thought that views the Lenten season primarily as an opportunity to unite oneself with Christ’s suffering or at least to take on extra disciplines to hopefully tame...

Readers who actually know me are likely aware that I spend a lot of time on the road these days, zipping around from one place to another. Around the recent turn of the new year, I had an extended time actually staying put at home for a bit—just about three whole...

I’m not a particularly good poker player. In short, I never progressed beyond simply playing my hand to the ore advanced level of also playing the hands of others based on their body language and the probability that they might have any particular combination of...

I’d like to think that I notice an awful lot. Doing so however, takes energy and focus. The expression “pay attention” really means something to me, because the effort of observation costs me something. I don’t say this as a plea for pity, but rather as an attempt...

This past week I had the pleasure of spending a couple days at Marist Catholic High School in Eugene, Oregon. In spite of its name, it is not a Marist-owned school, though it was founded by the Marist Brothers and continues to carry the Marist spirit even though...

The human journey toward wholeness is one that requires the hard work of healing. My current living situation allows me ample opportunities to reflect on this reality as we six Marist Brothers here in Massachusetts do our best to support each other through our own...

“I’m not ignoring you, I’m just deaf.” So read my favorite t-shirt that I saw during a week of working with the annual week-long camp for deaf children held at the Marist Brothers Center in Esopus. This shirt was worn by a deaf counselor who had previously been a...

It’s been an incredibly varied and busy summer for me. One recent highlight was the chance to participate in a group pilgrimage to the sites of the Marist origins in France. I enjoyed my time in Europe, and it seems that a bag of my clothes is still enjoying...

Although I’m familiar enough with Scripture to paraphrase an awful lot and make plentiful obscure allusions, I’ve never been a great one for citing chapter and verse. One exception to this general limitation of mine is 2 Peter 2: 22, thanks in no small part to...