Underneath

Beneath the feet of the monks, that which holds them and their houses of prayer, is this land. Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery on the coast of South Carolina, is where we’re on retreat. The land of my childhood. Beneath the years of their prayerful songs, as old as my dad, there is that which will outlast […]

The Power of Goodness – Dec. 15, 2022

““The power of the Most High will overshadow you,” the monastic liturgy prays during Advent. But who really believes it? We spend our lives, as nations and as individuals, waiting to be saved by the power of our own achievements or the power of destructive force. And yet, it is the clear, soft, consuming, overshadowing […]

Holy Week

I was raised Catholic with a rich tradition of liturgy to engage all my senses on this momentous walk with Jesus from Palm Sunday to Easter.* On Sunday we waved palm branches and sang with joy welcoming the One who came to save us. And barely catching our breath, we entered the Passion narrative with […]

Holy Integrity – Mar. 12, 2021

“God who chose sides,Forgive us for idolizing the lukewarmth of the middle. We wear it as its own brand of superiority, believing it makes us virtuous and rational and above the fight. But Lord, help us to remember there are those things worth fighting for – that you are a God who does not only […]