Nationally, Thanksgiving is a collective mindset of gratitude to forces greater than ourselves. Like a Norman Rockwell painting, heads bow over grace when families gather, everyone primed for thanks. Yet for many, saying grace is the holiday exception, not the daily rule. Many might ask, “Well, isn’t a group blessing just the official signal to […]
Black Friday is aptly named. Everyone’s dark side is out when the last nerve is drilled down trying to buy that “smart” toy, a tie, or the last leather bag in saddle brown. Now big sales on Thanksgiving splinter the holiday further. Is the football game on the wide screen TV the only glue holding […]
Mary, Jesus’s mother, spent her last days in Turkey, and I visited her house, surrounded by maple trees, high above the ancient Roman ruins of Ephesus, five miles from the Aegean Sea, now rebuilt by the Catholic Church as a holy place. After Jesus entrusted his mother and apostle John into each other’s care, it […]
David and I grieve for the victims and their families in the unspeakable tragedy in Ankara. Why those rallying for peace were victims of twin bombings is bewildering and heartbreaking. Here in Istanbul our Turkish guide, Cihan, arrived this morning, full of sorrow, preoccupied and worried. Our day of tourism began on a mournful note. […]
After neglect, sexual and physical abuse, wholeness is possible. Christine “Cissy” White of Weymouth has transformed fear and secrecy into a vibrant love of self and others. The act of writing aided her triumph. An activist for other survivors, she founded Heal Write Now, which shares recovery from the inside out through writing. Writing to […]