As we draw close to the Holy Season that will close our year, let’s welcome each final day as an extraordinary gift, grateful for the faith, hope, and love that sustain our lives.
Music: “Your Love” from “Once Upon A Time in the West” ” – by Ennio Morricone – performed by Hauser
For Your Reflection:
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
September has barely poked its nose through the door, but already we see signs of Autumn. A slight gold shimmers on the trees. Geese gather in noisy expectation. Early morning sheds its night veil in slower layers of magenta and blue. There have even been a few sweet nights when we can open the windows wide and sleep in the suggestively crisp air. All the signs are there — it is a new season – “The Season of Freshness”.
“Fresh” is a powerful word. Who can resist the crisply-aproned waiter suggesting, “Fresh ground pepper?” Who can ignore the aroma of fresh baked bread? Some of us even remember with appreciation the scent of linens fresh from our mother’s clothesline.
Let this beautiful season remind us that each day the Creator shakes out a fresh beginning for every one of us. With every radiant morning, the slate is clear with mercy. The opportunity to re-create the world awaits us. Our lives, our work, our relationships are the fresh bread of God’s hope for us. Within them, we are invited to reveal the powerful grace which runs just under the visibility of the ordinary. It whispers to us, “You are Beloved, and I want your life to be a fountain of joy.”
September is for fresh beginnings: a sparkling season, an unmarked semester, a turning of the garden, a clean page. It is nature’s way of saying forgiveness is possible, life is resilient, hope is eternal. Imagine September as the white-aproned waiter inviting you to freshness. At the Creator’s table, the tablecloth is clean and the sacred menu is forgiveness, hope, mercy and renewed beginnings. Don’t miss this opportunity to assess what needs refreshment in your life. Feast on September’s graces! They can be life-changing!
Music: September Song – Alexis Ffrench
For Your Reflection
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
Silver and Gold from the movie “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
In the Spring of 2009, the “Voice of Philadelphia” passed away. Harry Kalas, long-time sports announcer for the Phillies and a commentator for NFL films, died suddenly just before the baseball game. Besides having a golden mellifluous voice, Harry was a good man. The outpouring of love and respect for him was huge.
At the same time, but on a much lighter note, Susan Boyle, a matronly, unassuming woman from a small Scottish village, blew the world away with her soul-stirring singing voice, debuted on Britain’s version of “American Idol”. Her voice is not just good – it is molten silver against the cold darkness. It is a rich and powerful contradiction to the whining nasality of so many willowy stars. It is a victorious testimony to the truism that you can’t tell a book by its cover.
I remember that these events left me thinking about the gift of our voices. This gift, like many others, is one we tend to take for granted. It is only when a voice we love is silenced that we truly appreciate how we had loved to hear it.
Six or seven years after my mother died, my brother Jim and I were playing some old videos of his kids, looking for clips for a graduation tribute. Unexpectedly, my mother appeared in one of the videos, talking to the children in her gentle, grandmotherly tones. Jim and I hadn’t heard that precious voice since Mom had died. We were stunned to tears with the sweet memory and the poignant loss.
The human voice is one of the clearest expressions of God’s Power. It can lift people into the light of hope and reassurance, or it can push them to the edge of despair. It can set someone on the path to self-worth, or it can crush them under the weight of a hasty, intolerant word. It can carve someone a way out of loneliness, or it can imprison them in their own exaggerated sense of difference. The voice can bless or it can curse.
We are powerful people who are sometimes wrapped in a paralysis of unawareness. Often, we don’t realize the power of our words or the force of our silence. Such powers demand and deserve our attention. Our words may never be repeated in tribute like Harry’s and Susan’s have been. But our words can rest forever in the recesses of someone’s heart. Someday — when they draw up that memory, the way my brother and I did — let them be holding silver and gold.
Music: Two songs for your enjoyment, certainly of different musical merit, but both very moving. Enjoy!
For Your Reflection
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
The old Hancock playground was a city kid’s oasis in a macadam desert.
When it opened in the 1950s, we flocked to it like thirsty birds. It allowed us to fly in new ways: long-chained swings that soared to eight feet at a strong clip; sturdy monkey bars that invited real acrobatic skills; a big, well-oiled roundabout and – best of all, a shiny metal sliding board.
The wonder of that equipment was that it responded to each child’s challenge and skill. A little boy could swing gently; a big girl could pump those long chains until they thrummed like yo-yo strings.
But the sliding board offered the most subtle and sometimes sinister challenges. Was it really a 10-foot climb to the top, or was I just that little? And did that shiny metal, on a hot July day, actually fry my skin?
On that steaming giant, there was never “fast enough”. We invented all kinds of formulae to increase slide speed: head first, legs up, jack-knifed. Some of us even carried a pocketful of mom’s waxed paper, polishing the incline to a cutthroat slipperiness. It was pure joy at its dumbest best and it was only God’s kindness that we didn’t kill ourselves!
As we live our lives, part of us never leaves the playground. At times, we are still a little child, barely moving on the swing. At times, we are the convoluted acrobat, struggling to complete the challenge. Sometimes, our lives whirl at a dizzying pace. And sometimes we get burned and bruised in our attempts.
Life of course, as the years pass, demands wiser approaches to its “ playground”. It’s called “maturity”. As I age, I find myself more cautious in both good and not-so-good ways. Certainly, I won’t be doing any sliding boards if I can help it. But what about the adventure of new thinking, new relationships, new generosities that build my community belonging?
What about the neglected reconciliations, forgivenesses, and repented procrastinations that will free my spirit for unexpected joy?
As I drove past the refurbished, plasticized Hancock today, that hot metal slide shone like a star in my memory. And I decided to put some waxed paper in my pocket– just as a reminder to still take a measure of abandoned fun on life’s slide.
Music: The Slide – The Rhythm Rockets
A Golden Oldie from the 50-60s to get the spirit moving today!
I got a dance that I’m doin’ today It’s called The Slide I saw ’em dancin’ in the down the road hideaway This dance The Slide It makes you hop, jump, feel okay If you dance The Slide
Mm-mm-mm, slide, baby slide Oh-oh-oh, I mean The Slide
The music picks you up and puts you low down Makes you hop, jump, shake around You don’t need to play big and bright Better to do it in the cool of the night
Mm-mm-mm, slide, baby slide Oh-oh-oh, I mean The Slide
There’s the guitar takin’ speed Gives you some idea what you’re doin’ to me The drum will follow and make that sound Make you hop, shake and rock around
Mm-mm-mm, slide, baby slide Oh-oh-oh, I mean The Slide
The music picks you up and puts you low down Makes you hop, jump, shake around You don’t need to play big and bright Better to do it in the cool of the night
Mm-mm-mm, slide, baby slide Oh-oh-oh, I mean The Slide
Mm-mm-mm, slide, baby slide Oh-oh-oh, I mean The Slide
For Your Reflection
Although this is a somewhat lighthearted reflection, I hope it will touch something life-giving in your heart. It’s so important to retain our capacity to think “young”, to be childlike in our hope, to enjoy life without prejudice or fear, to “slide” with spiritual trust when a great opportunity presents itself!
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
On the way to to the library today, I passed an Amoroso truck. We native Philadelphians are very serious about our sandwich rolls – and very biased. We think they’re the best in the world. For those of you outside Philadelphia, Amoroso is a local baking company famous for delicious Italian rolls. Every morning, their crisp white trucks with the red and green detailing can be seen delivering rolls all over our hungry city.
Many years ago, when I worked in an inner city ER, an Amoroso driver was brought in by fire rescue. The man had suffered a heart attack in the stifling July heat. Despite intense efforts by staff, he could not be revived.
My responsibility, after praying with him and for him, was to determine his identity and to inform his family of his death. There were only a few things in the chest pocket of his shirt, which lay ripped and tossed on the ER floor. There was a thin, well-used prayer book and an even thinner wallet with a couple of dollars, a lottery ticket, and a picture of his grandchildren. My eyes filled with tears as I laid these few items out on my desk. Here was a simple, good man’s life – faith, family, hope and responsibility. He carried what was most important to him close to his heart.
Passing the Amoroso truck today, on a warm July morning nearly forty years later, made me ask myself, “What do I keep close to my heart?”
It’s a good question, both literally and symbolically. In the space next to my heart do I have the things that most matter – faith, love, generosity, and joy. Or is there only a vacuum there, made empty by the common killers of our culture: cynicism, self-absorption, materialism, indifference, and competitiveness?
Life is short. Live it for what matters. And if you’re lucky, share an Amoroso roll to bless your journey.
Music: Simple Gifts
For Your Reflection:
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
A perfect summer night is a treasure, isn’t it? … the kind you remember from when you were a kid: • cool enough to play for hours without sweat and exhaustion… • the long light lingering until almost nine o’clock… • the jingle of the ice cream truck tantalizing in the distance….
It would have been fine with me if those nights had lasted forever. But like childhood, such summer nights do not last.
The challenge is this: can we retain the spirit of those nights in the heat or chill that follows In the long seasons of our adult responsibilities and choices, can we invoke our free and joyful inner child?
I remember one June Saturday a few years ago. I sat concentrating by my open window as a warm breeze drifted in. The street outside bustled with the sounds of the busy inner city. Inside, my mind bustled with all the work I had to accomplish in the short weekend.
Suddenly, like gentle bells amid the noise, children’s laughter threaded into my seriousness. Their roller skates softly clacked across the hard concrete of my sidewalk and my awareness. I thought to myself, “When was the last time you experienced pure, childlike joy and freedom? — AND what are you going to do about it?”
There are a few tender summer nights left in 2025. Turn the TV off and go out to your patio or front step. Play with your children. Listen for the ice cream truck. Sit on the porch with someone you enjoy and just talk. Or sit alone in the grateful stillness with our Creator Whose best gift to us is joyful freedom – Whose own playful heart created the zebra, the giraffe, the flamingo, the Blue-footed Booby … and, yes, even us 🙂
We know all too well that we were created to work. Let’s remind ourselves that we were also created to play with the simplicity and sincerity of our remembered childhood.
Music: Like a Child
For Your Reflection:
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
The golden morning had broken bright and warm through the hospital windows. With its breaking, the attending physician and chaplain had received a page. Dorothy had taken an unexpected turn. She was struggling both to live and to die.
As they attended and comforted her, Dorothy managed to whisper ” … wait for Henry.” Henry, her husband of fifty-eight years, had arrived promptly at 7:00 AM daily for all the weeks of Dorothy’s hospitalization. Glancing at her watch, the chaplain saw that it was just 6:50 AM.
When, after ten eternal minutes, Henry appeared at the door, he carried a small bouquet of yellow roses from their beloved garden. Quickly apprehending the changed situation, he laid the roses aside and hurried to hold Dorothy for the last few minutes of her life. In the loving, covenanted presence Dorothy had waited for, she finally embraced a peaceful death.
It had not been easy for Dorothy to die nor, from then on, had it been easy for Henry to live. Still, through many bereavement visits, the chaplain watched their long, honest love arise to heal Henry. Through prayer and the benediction of memories, Henry realized that their love, like the roses still blooming in their garden, was both fragile and eternal.
In this week’s readings, God again calls us to such a love. As God brought Lazarus, Suzanna, and Shadrack out of darkness and death, so God promises to bring us. “I will keep my covenant with you,” God says. “Whoever keeps my word will never die.” Accompanying Jesus, as he nears Jerusalem, let us trust and cherish these promises in our own darknesses and bereavements.
Music: Lazarus, Come Forth – The Bishops
Heartbroken, tears falling Martha found Jesus She questioned why Lazarus had died. When she had thus spoken, her doubts were then silenced. He walked toward the body and cried.
Lazarus, come forth. Awake like the morning. Arise with new hope, a new life is born. Lazarus, come forth. From death now awaken. For Jesus has spoken. Death’s chains have been broken. Lazarus, come forth.
The tomb now was empty. Martha stopped crying. Her brother now stood by her side. The Pharisee’s wondered about what had happened. How could one now live who had died?
The reason this story gives hope to so many Is although we know we must die. Our bodies won’t stay there In cold and dark silence. We’ll hear Jesus cry from on high.
Children come forth Awake like the morning. Arise with new hope, a new life is born. Children come forth. From death now awaken. For Jesus has spoken. Death’s chains have been broken. Children come forth.
For Jesus has spoken. Death’s chains have been broken. My Children come forth. Children come forth. Children, come forth.
For Your Reflection
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
In the block behind my home, there is a small lawn filled with crocuses. A few weeks ago, when snow still had a tight grip on the landscape, those little green nibs began to peek their heads out through the white blanket.
Every year, late in winter, I see this miracle happening in the most unexpected places. And every year, I still doubt that those fragile dots of life will survive and grow through winter’s apparent death. Every year, my doubts prove unfounded. Every year, those delicate purple fields remind me of what it means to live.
Today is the first day of Spring — a great time to remind ourselves that what we are about in this world is always LIFE, never DEATH! Some things we face in life may seem like snowy, frozen fields. But, underneath, where the Spirit never tires, green new life inspires our attitude and choices.
To find that renewed vitality, I must do two brave things: • Always choose LIFE for myself and others • Trust that God will sustain me in my choices
Sometimes, we make mistakes about what renews our lives. Still, in our deep hearts, we know that real life cannot be lived in isolation and self-seeking. Choices for real life are always rooted in mutual peace, truth, integrity, generosity, and compassion.
As spring wakes before us, let’s listen carefully to that deep heart’s message.
Once we’ve made the choice for life, we must trust that despite “winter”, the green tender shoots will prevail. They always do! History should confirm our faith! Winter always ends, and it is always worth the choice to live beyond it!
When I see the first spring flowers, I think of a friend’s favorite advice for a happy life: • Wake up! • Show Up! • Be there! I think the crocuses got the message!
Poetry: The Crocuses – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911)
They heard the South wind sighing A murmur of the rain; And they knew that Earth was longing To see them all again.
While the snow-drops still were sleeping Beneath the silent sod; They felt their new life pulsing Within the dark, cold clod.
Not a daffodil nor daisy Had dared to raise its head; Not a fairhaired dandelion Peeped timid from its bed;
Though a tremor of the winter Did shivering through them run; Yet they lifted up their foreheads To greet the vernal sun.
And the sunbeams gave them welcome, As did the morning air— And scattered o’er their simple robes Rich tints of beauty rare.
Soon a host of lovely flowers From vales and woodland burst; But in all that fair procession The crocuses were first.
First to weave for Earth a chaplet To crown her dear old head; And to beautify the pathway Where winter still did tread.
And their loved and white-haired mother Smiled sweetly ’neath the touch, When she knew her faithful children Were loving her so much
Music: The First of the Crocuses
For Your Reflection
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
Fickle March hesitates on the edge of Spring. It can’t quite decide: “Shall I wear my chilly or my warm personality today?” We too are still wearing our “March personalities”. Every morning, we say hopeful things to one another. “Getting warmer.“ “Hint of spring today.” But hidden in those cheery remarks is the memory of past March blizzards that buried us in a foot of crushed expectations.
Still, the fact is that, as you read this article, we have almost made it through another winter. Abundant, colorful life is ready to break through the cold brown barrenness. In the annual championship bout, April always KOs March!
This analogy should give us great hope for our lives. Our lives are “seasonal” too – full of chills and heat waves, fallow and fruitful cycles. Sometimes we find ourselves in a harsh, interminable winter. The hope of Spring – a sprig of new life – seems impossible. We feel frozen in a powerless situation.
But haven’t we all known people who, no matter what, live in their heart’s Spring? They understand the difference between healing and cure, between pleasure and joy, between possession and fulfillment. Even amid chilling burdens, a deep hope and a joyous freedom guide them through their winters.
It is so important for us to be aware of the power we have over another person’s life. The one encouraging word we offer may be that ray of hope that breaks through someone’s isolation. That one small, patient moment we muster in the face of frustration may be the only glimmer of color in a person’s otherwise bleak landscape.
When you were little and Aunt Polly asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, wouldn’t she have been surprised if you had answered, “I think I’m gonna’ be a bearer of spring, a shower of hope, a sweet light after the winter.” But that is what you are!
This is Spring – this is your season! For your own sake and the sake of your dear ones, may everything in your lives warm and blossom.
Poetry: from Emily Dickinson
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.
Music: Serenade to Spring – Secret Garden
For Your Reflection
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
Click the white arrowhead to the left above for some relaxing music while you read. You may repeat click if you wish.
The frosty blue nights of February fill our evening and morning windows. We look through that deep sapphire richness to discover the diamond stars. We imagine worlds, possibilities, and miracles presently beyond us.
Since Thanksgiving, we have been celebrating a season of hope:
the hope of Hannukah, when we remember the lamp burning miraculously and the courage to renew faith
the hope of Christmas, when we remember a small, vulnerable life that changed the world with the phrase, “Love one another.”
The hope of a New Year, when we remember past gifts that nourish us for future trust
But what about those times when hope flickers?
As we gaze through our windows at the crystal winter skies, our TV may be broadcasting the news behind us, challenging our hopes with the contradictions of war, violence, and disaster. We may wonder where the great saviors and prophets are in our time. Our numbed spirits may perceive only darkness and no starlight.
If so, stay still in the darkness. Be quiet and wait. Let one face, one smile, one kindness, one hand outstretched to you rise in your memory like steady Polaris. The world’s transformation to grace always begins within a single, shining human heart. May your heart be that star for others. May others like you fill your own skies with unquenchable light.
Poetry: Hope – Lisel Mueller
It hovers in dark corners before the lights are turned on, it shakes sleep from its eyes and drops from mushroom gills, it explodes in the starry heads of dandelions turned sages, it sticks to the wings of green angels that sail from the tops of maples.
It sprouts in each occluded eye of the many-eyed potato, it lives in each earthworm segment surviving cruelty, it is the motion that runs from the eyes to the tail of a dog, it is the mouth that inflates the lungs of the child that has just been born.
It is the singular gift we cannot destroy in ourselves, the argument that refutes death, the genius that invents the future, all we know of God.
It is the serum which makes us swear not to betray one another; it is in this poem, trying to speak.
For Your Reflection
What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
Lavish Mercy 