Faith & Life Inspirational Message

A couple months ago I spent some time with a group of students in the process of discussing various careers.   Part of what was at stake was helping them think about this before they graduate.   Too often a college student thinks that a particular major leads to a special job.   Sometimes this is true.   But more often than not, there is no direct corollary between our major in college and the careers we wind up pursuing.             I am certainly not against a student choosing a major in college.   As a matter of fact, most colleges require that major to graduate.   What I do want to question is the assumption that certain majors lead to certain careers.   It is more involved than that.   And perhaps there are times when luck has a role to play.   What did happen in the discussion provoked me to start thinking about the whole phenomenon.        ...

The story of Thomas, as we find it in the New Testament, has always been one of my favorites.   Today is the feast day for Thomas, so I bumped again into the story.   If you are not familiar with the story, let me share it.   We find it in John’s Gospel.   The time frame for it comes after the resurrection of Jesus.   The resurrected Jesus was in Jerusalem on Sunday evening appearing to some of the gathered disciples.   As it turns out, Thomas was not with them.   When Thomas comes, the disciples told him they had seen the resurrected Jesus.    Thomas’ reply is classic.   He says, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (20:25)   With these words Thomas expresses what so many of us surely would have exclaimed.   I can certainly sympathize with Thomas.   After all, Jesus had been his friend.   His friend had been horri...

If the first fundamental human question is “who am I,” surely the second question is “what should I do?”   In most cases these two questions are inextricably tied together.   What happens with one question affects the other one.   However, we can only talk about them one at a time, so this reflection piece gives focus to the question, what should I do?             The first thing to realize in this question is the focus goes on the verb.   In the other question, “who am I,” the focus was on the subject---on “who.”   But in this second question the focus clearly shines on the verb---“do.”   The implication is everyone should do something.   Not doing something is, in effect, doing something, i.e. doing nothing.   This tells me that human beings are essentially designed to be somebody and to do something.   The only questions are who am I as a somebody and what should I do, since I have ...

I try to follow the daily lectionary---daily reading---even though I don’t always mention it.   I find the lectionary to be an available, designated group of readings that help me focus for some time.   I know how important discipline is in a variety of aspects of life.   Discipline is part of my spiritual regimen, although I don’t do as well as I want to do.   Clearly, discipline plays a role in other areas, such as physical exercise, eating, etc.             The lectionary makes it a little easier for me to engage some practice.   The lectionary I follow is the one from the Benedictine monastic tradition.   I like the fact that monks around the world are doing the same readings from the Psalms that I am doing.   And they are also hearing the same passages from the Old and New Testament that I read.   It is not the same thing as being there with them, but when I can’t be with them, I like ...

Maybe it is because I am a college professor---a teacher---that I have always been drawn to the title of rabbi for Jesus.   I call it a title because “rabbi” is not part of his name.   That is also true of the title, “Christ.”   When I was a kid, I assumed “Christ” was his last name!   To the contrary, rabbi and Christ are titles that describe something about the function of Jesus. To call Jesus “the Christ” is to describe him as “the anointed one.”   And to describe Jesus as “rabbi” is to say he is a teacher.   That aspect of Jesus I can relate to and appreciate.             After so many years teaching, I feel like I know a thing or two about the process.   And I am confident enough about what I have learned teaching that I suspect some of the same things apply to Jesus, the rabbi.   Let’s explore a couple of these learnings.          ...

In a reading for class I hit a line in Kathleen Norris’ book, The Cloister Walk , that struck a chord in me.   I know I had read the passage before, but somehow it never hit me like it did this time.   It is in a chapter Norris calls, “Generations.”   The chapter talks about how there are generations of monks within a monastery, just like there can be generations within a family.   I never thought about that, but it rings true.             Norris begins a paragraph with these words.   “Monastic storytelling is a form of gossip, and like the best gossip, it often serves a moral purpose.” I had to laugh at that thought.   Most people I know probably do gossip (as I confess to doing on occasion), but probably most of us would deny that we do it!   Norris then moves on to indicate there are some dangers in the monastic life.   And I don’t doubt that.   Then she writes the line that I very ...

I have been reading again some excerpts from Martin Marty’s writings.   Many of you know I like the kinds of things Marty has written now for nearly sixty years.   What Marty writes about all things religious is great in and of it.   But he quotes so many interesting people and this adds spice to the mix.   It was in one such piece that I encountered another friend of mine, the late Henri Nouwen.   Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest who came to this country.   He was one of the early, popular writers on spirituality.   He was one of those writers who helped me begin to read and appreciate spirituality.   One of my favorite times was the occasion when I hosted Henri for a couple days where I used to teach.   The words Marty gleaned from Nouwen have to do with hospitality.   As I understand it, hospitality gets at the heart of discipleship.   Listen to Nouwen’s words.   “When hostility is converted into hospitality, then fe...