Faith & Life Inspirational Message

I don’t watch movies and I’m not sure why that is the case.  I am certainly not against watching them, but somehow I never want to do it enough to take the time.  I always feel out of place and culturally illiterate on this count.  As nearly as I can tell, most students whom I know are avid movie watchers.  And most of my colleagues are, too.  It is not unusual for someone from either group to cite a movie to make a point.  That is always lost on me! Recently, I was going through some channels on the TV and spotted the movie, Rudy.  I actually took the time to watch it---even though I have seen it before.  I wondered how old the movie was, so the Internet makes that kind of search easy.  The movie came out in 1983.  It is based on the true-life story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who did play football at Notre Dame.  The real Rudy was from Joliet, IL and always harbored the hope to attend Notre Dame and play football.  But he h...

Robert Bowers was not a name I ever heard, nor would virtually all Americans know that name either.  But then he parachuted into our consciousness when he entered a Pittsburgh synagogue and shot to death eleven Jews who were worshipping.  Certainly it was a heinous crime.  Clearly, it is the manifestation of evil and the epitome of sin.  It evokes deep feelings in all of us---feelings of sadness, anger and more.      The fact that it did not happen in my city is no less the reason for ignoring it and leaving it for others to deal with.  If it is not in our city, then it is too easy to resume our lives as if nothing happened.  At one level, nothing changed in my life.  If I had not heard the news, I could have blithely gone about my business.  But I cannot do that.  I needed to respond---to do something.     Fortunately, the Jewish community in my city planned a vigil.  It would be a time for Jews to gat...

I was saddened when I read about the recent death of the Trappist monk, Thomas Keating.  Keating lived to the age of 95, so death at that age can hardly be called tragic.  Keating is best known for discovering and giving the world what is called Centering Prayer.  Centering prayer was not really a new thing---not a new way of praying.  Instead Keating mined the early Christian literature and tradition---especially the mystical and contemplative aspects.  He called what they were doing centering prayer.  And his contemporary world was ready for the message.      I never met Keating.  I wish I had met him.  I would have enjoyed getting a sense for the person he was.  Obviously when you read someone’s books, you have some idea of how they think and talk.  But you don’t get a feel for the person.  You can’t look them in the eyes.  Often when you here a person’s voice, the words in their books take on a whole new...

I am attracted to things that talk about meaning.  Maybe that is because I feel like I have spent much of my life thinking about meaning and testing to see if, indeed, I thought I was living a meaningful life.  I remember very well a period of life when I did not think I had any meaning or, at best, was not sure what that was.  Those were the years right after high school and the early college years. In my case much of school and high school was fine.  Maybe it is revisionist history, but I recall those days with some fondness.  I was an above average athlete, so that was a plus.  I was bright enough, so that also was a plus.  I am the oldest one in my family, so there was no sibling competition---no reputation to live up to or even live down.  Life was ok. Then I was off to college and began to experience a period of not knowing.  I began to have a nagging sense that what I was aiming for was not really what I wanted to do.  I began...

The title of this inspirational piece was provided by a section header in a book I have enjoyed and which I still use in a class.  The book, The Active Life, by my friend, Parker Palmer, helps with the basics of living the kind of life I want.  The subtitle of the book is quite revealing: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity and Caring.  I try to do all three things in my life.  I still work.  I hope to be creative.  And I want to care.  Let’s explore all three. I was reading one of his chapters when I landed on the header of a section in that chapter.  The header read: “The Healing Power of Failure.”  I was immediately intrigued by the idea that somehow failure could be healing.  I certainly have known enough about failure.  Anyone my age has failed a few times.  If he or she has not, that person is likely to be lying---or never tried anything! I jumped into the section to see how Palmer was going to develop it.  One of...

I once heard Richard Rohr, one of my favorite contemporary speakers and writers on spirituality, utter a significant line.  He said, “Don’t confuse education with transformation.”  That was one of those moments when I gasped and thought, “Exactly!”  Let me detail that “exactly.”  I do that as one who has been in education for much of my career and care deeply about education.  So the last thing I would say is that I am against education.  To the contrary, education is crucial in this generation and for every successive generation. I also think there is a real need for education in religious and spiritual circles.  Frequently, I cringe at the ignorance and sometimes stupidity otherwise smart women and men utter in the name of religion.  Of course, I recognize at one point we all start out in ignorance.  We all were little babies!  Once I did not know anything.  But I have learned some things.  In religion, however, learning is...

I travel enough to know that I am glad my job does not have me on the road all the time.  I travel enough to keep life interesting.  I like going other places.  Sometimes it is only the neighboring state.  But if I have to be there two days, it means an overnight.  And that means a night in a hotel.  Sometimes I go abroad.  It might be Europe or England where I have been so many times, that it does not feel foreign.  But the hotels are different there.  Occasionally, I go to India or China where the culture and customs are very different.  A hotel stay there can be an adventure. I have never thought much about hotels.  And I never thought about them in any spiritual kind of way.  But as I was drawn to ponder hotels in this fashion, I was surprised at what began to emerge.  It turned out to be fascinating and instructive. We all know that hotels are places to stay when we are away from our homes or apartments.  A c...