“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13 All of us have a conscience, formed out of our sense of right from wrong, guiding our actions and decisions. When we violate our conscience, it can put us ill at ease, even resulting in guilty feelings, which can make us feel inadequate, […]
As a professed Lay Carmelite, I have come to better appreciate the impact of prayer, as this is near and dear to our Carmelite charism, along with contemplation, service and community. In times of trial, we are often quick to invoke the name of Jesus and for us Catholics, even plead to a saint in heaven to intercede for […]
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Confessions by St. Augustine of Hippo While University Hospital was my professional home for over 25 years, I believed God’s plan for my life required continued growth, and greater earning capacity to take care of my family. […]
Jumping ahead a few years, to 1990, I recall Stephanie calling me to come to Radiology at University. She was there for a sonogram, with some unusual results. Expecting to see a new baby on the way, there were two little ones showing on the sonogram images. I came to Radiology to see our twins […]
When I began working as a Pharmacy Tech at University Hospital, I was told I needed to buy a lab coat. At that time, even minor expenses could be challenging. My manager, Isaac “Ike” Henderson, sensed the need, and gave me one of his worn coats, which was too big for me, but covered the […]
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”. Matthew 18:3 After leaving the minor seminary when I was 17, I always had this sense that there was an unfilled spiritual vocation. A few years after my mother passed away, when I was I in […]
“He told them: ‘Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt”. Luke 9: 3 When I was 21, my life was unfolding before me, day by day. I was knocking on doors, making cold calls as an agent with Met Life, thinking I could convince people twice my […]
“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” John 10: 10 One of the challenges some people have in responding to organized religion is a concern that they have got to “get right” with God to have any prosperity in this world and a good life in the hereafter. Many […]
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store way in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:26-27 I recall a Labor Day more […]
“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life within you” (John 6: 53). I received a text a few weeks back from a nephew who was struggling with his faith in God, wondering if was more up to him than God, to make his way […]