Those who practice Zen refer to sitting in meditation as zazen. The Japanese word means “just sitting.” They do nothing else except sit and wait...
Our Faith
Essays and reporting on theology and scripture that put our faith in the context of everyday life.
Siblings are on my mind as I prepare to celebrate the feast day of St. Martha on July 29—one of my favorites! St. Martha is among the New Testament’s most...
When I think of my teen years, I mostly remember a dark road. When I turned 15 I got my license and, with a small sum of money my dad gave me after he sold my...
It was time to call in the big guns—Mary, the mother of God, and some industrious cherubs. I’d been wrestling with several impossible problems. Talk therapy...
I take pride in being a citizen who knows what is going on in the world. But after the last couple of weeks, I have to wonder if staying on top of the news is...
“On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.” I was 8 the first time I recited those...
It’s impossible to fully understand God. So humans come up with metaphors to try to explain our conviction of a loving God who holds us in community with each...
According to Trappist Father Thomas Keating, a decades-long practitioner and teacher of centering prayer, contemplative prayer is about relationship, not...
Not two minutes after transcribing my last interview for this story, my phone rang. An undergraduate student at St. John’s University, where I work, died...
I have philosophical conversations with my dentist while he cleans my teeth. It’s no small task to attempt to be profound with a hook in your mouth, but Dr...
