Reflections of a beloved son

“The brother is not bored. He is alone with God” (103). This line is from Nicolas Diat’s “A Time to Die - Monks on the Threshold of Eternal Life.” The Father comes to meet us in the silence. Being alone is not being bored or lonely. Solitude and loneliness are different. The former is being aware of the presence of God and allowing yourself to rest in Him, but the latter is ignoring it and trying to find peace outside of its source. As we enter this final week of Advent, let us be aware of God’s presence in our hearts, in others, and in the sacraments, and invite others to do the same. For only in Him will we find peace and rest.  God is there - in the stillness of your hearts.  God knows it is difficult to find peace and to find Him in the noise and busyness of the world, and so He comes to meet us in a “light silent sound” (1 Kg. 19:12b). When you feel empty and restless, and cannot seem to find any joy or peace that lasts, call out to God, for then you will be able to exp...

Imagine this scenario: You are the homeroom teacher for one section of high school juniors.  Throughout the semester you have reminded them daily "Phones away during prayers and announcements."  The students had a rocky start but later caught on and were generally compliant and had no phones out during homeroom.  The end of the semester comes and everyone goes home for Christmas break.  Ten days later everyone comes back for the first day of the new semester.  It is 7:40AM and the first bell rings - a warning bell.  The bell rings again at 7:50AM.  Everyone is in their homerooms and prayers come on through loudspeaker.  You find that 70% of students have their phones out.  How do you respond? If I were the teacher I would be quite disappointed, but at the same time not completely shocked.  I don't want to say I expected it because I had hope that my students who continue with their good work - I mean not the entire class violated the...

In the Gospel we are presented with the incident where the woman and man were caught in the very act of adultery, and the Pharisees have seized the woman and is about to carry out the consequence that such an act warranted: stoning.  In an attempt to test Jesus, they asked Him what they should should do for the Law of Moses said to stone her.  Jesus' initial response was silence.   I love this silence.  Oftentimes it is the silence that speaks the loudest.  Think about it.  What could the Pharisees have been thinking: "why isn't He saying anything...?"  Then Jesus bends down and begins to write something with his finger on the ground.  Scripture doesn't tell us what He writes.  The people couldn't deal with the silence so they asked the question again and Jesus said, " Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her ."  What a statement.  The people began to gradually disappear one after another....