Paul described the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-3: peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Fruit is the end product of a long growing season, the product the plant or tree offers the world. That this “fruit” comes from the Spirit of God means that it is given to us, […]

”Whatever will be will be! The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera. What will be, will be. Que sera, sera.” Many of my readers may be too young to remember this song sung by Doris Day in the 1956 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much. It came to my mind not long […]

When Jesus talks about serving food and drink/helping/visiting the poor, the sick and the prisoner, he is not just talking about a charitable act. It’s not just about the food or drink that we serve, it’s not just about the visit, it’s more about adopting this person and that one into our family, into the […]

So much of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was about creating a whole community of God, the kingdom of God. In The Beatitudes, Jesus blesses the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek(or unimportant), those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers and even those who are persecuted.[Matthew 5:3-10] He goes […]

There are layers and layers to grief, but the one thing we do not want to do is to deny the grief, stuff the tears, or in any way avoid the pain. It is only in thoroughly grieving all our pain and suffering that we free ourselves of the past. There are layers to our […]

I have run from pain as if I could escape its reach. I have avoided pain, tried to block it from surfacing. I have engrossed myself in books and TV and games. I have hung onto, but repressed my pain so I don’t have to feel it. This I have always done. But over the […]

The spiritual journey has been described classically in four stages: awakening, purgation, illumination and union. Awakening is the first movement in the journey into God’s world. It can be a direct answer to God’s call to be born again, to surrender your life to him. Or we can be thrown out of our normal life […]

We are raised to be “letter of the law” people. We learn to obey our parents. Our teachers. Our traffic laws. The laws of our nation. The trouble is that we’re not very good at following the letter of the law. All one has to do is to drive the streets and highways of our […]

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, I can bring good even out of your mistakes. Your finite mind tends to look backward, longing to undo decisions you have come to regret. This is a waste of time and energy, leading us into frustration. Instead of floundering in the past, release your mistakes to Me. Look […]

  “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” Psalm 100 is short and to the point: be joyful; know the Lord; we are his people; thank and praise him; bless his name. Celebrate our God and be grateful. We are his people; […]