“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 Probably the most common word to describe God is [...]
“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. Nehemiah 9:19 Seeing-eye dogs are amazing animals. They have a huge [...]
Matthew 9:35-36 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Compassion. A feeling of deep sympathy and [...]
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of [...]
The last gift of the wise men was myrrh, an oil used for healing and for releasing the spirit so that the fullness of its being can emerge. I look at my dog, Jas, and I see a wonderful spirit that is trapped inside a blanket of fear. For whatever reason, Jas lives much of [...]
Peace. Calm. The quiet center. Sister Joan Chittister says that frankincense was used to bring a sense of calm or peace to life. I am one that needs to find that center of peace in order to be mentally, physically, and spiritually healthy. When my life gets too full, too hectic, or too cluttered, I [...]
On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 The scripture above comes from one of the Christmas stories in the Gospel of Matthew, when the wise men [...]
In the midst of one of the creation stories in the book of Genesis in the Bible, the one that tells the story about how human beings, when they were still in the Garden of Eden and all was good, broke the rules and began a spiral into one lie after another (Genesis 2), we [...]
One day a brother brought a rabbit who had been caught in a trap to St. Francis. Francis advised the rabbit to be more alert in the future, then released the rabbit from the trap and set it on the ground to go its way. But the rabbit hopped back up onto Francis’ lap, desiring [...]
In a Speaking of Faith interview in December, 2007, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen tells the story of creation from the Jewish mystical tradition. In the beginning there was only the holy darkness, the “en sof,” the source of life, and in the course of history, at a moment in time, this world emerged from the [...]
