Tonight I attended my first “Tenebrae” service. Tenebrae is Latin for “into the shadows.” The service is intended to recreate the emotional aspects of Christ’s betrayal, abandonment, and the agony of his crucifixion. The heart of the service takes place toward the end. A number of candles have been lit to coincide with the same […]
“You hold my eyelids open;I am so troubled that I cannot speak.I consider the days of old,the years long ago.”—Psalm 77:4-5 In fall of 2015 I embarked on an eight month journey through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, which begins with an examination of sin. As I progressed through the weeks it felt as […]
“You hold my eyelids open;I am so troubled that I cannot speak.I consider the days of old,the years long ago.”—Psalm 77:4-5 In fall of 2015 I embarked on an eight month journey through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, which begins with an examination of sin. As I progressed through the weeks it felt as […]
Every year at Lent I pray about what I need to do, not do, give up or take on. Of course a person can do a bit of soul-searching any time of year, but given Lent’s significance in Church history, there is something special about participating with other Christians around the world, past and present, […]
I listened with great sadness to last week’s news about the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians by ISIS in Libya. While I have not tracked all of the “public” murders ISIS has performed in the past, it seems that – besides punishment for unpaid ransoms – they often target journalists and unsuspecting aid workers, and […]
Have you ever read the book of Leviticus? All those “offerings” (burnt offering, sin offering, trespass offering, etc.) sound bloody and cold. Even though there are several names for these different offerings, they all boil down to “sin”…that ugly archaic 3-letter word that has no place in a modern society. Or if it does it […]
Who am I? First off, I am a wife and a mother—those are extremely important roles to me. I am a writer and editor by vocation, both as a career as well as what I perceive to be my life’s calling. I am a classical guitar player and knitter who loves the outdoors. But do […]
I have been reading about Jesus’s last week on earth. In churches that follow a liturgical calendar, today is called Maundy Thursday; it is the day when Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. From Luke 22: The day of unleavened bread arrived, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed, and Jesus […]