Doors of the Human Heart

Like a house, the physical heart has doors called valves. Opening and closing, they rhythmically allow blood in and out of the heart. Like an automatic glass sliding door, these valves open and close, open and close for our entire life.  They permit just the ideal volume of blood into the heart chamber; just theContinue reading “Doors of the Human Heart”

Beggars – Sacrament of the Divine

I visited the supermarket, shopped, and exited. While hurrying to escape the ants nests of pre-Christmas shoppers, I failed to secure by wallet in the back pocket of my pants.  Precariously juggling two boxes of items in my hands, I neglected either to hear someone saying, “Your wallet is falling out”, or to recognize thatContinue reading “Beggars – Sacrament of the Divine”

Everybody gone, gone, gone!

I sat on the verandah this cool and calm Saturday morning with my mother reminiscing and recalling the names of persons who lived in my childhood neighbourhood. My mother‘s elephant-like memory afforded her the opportunity to retrace the well-worn tracks of time and identify a litany of persons who have trodden those paths, some ofContinue reading “Everybody gone, gone, gone!”

Covid and Road Management

What does COVID-19 pandemic management and Road Management have in common? I sat on a chair by the window of my hotel room looking out as the morning sun, partially blocked by the hotel building, casts a shadow on a major highway intersection. The intersection is like a spider web with several lanes crisscrossing overContinue reading “Covid and Road Management”

The Jigsaw Puzzle – Metaphor for the Synodal Journey

Each piece of a jigsaw puzzle represents a human story – the story of a lay person, a clergy, a bishop. Each piece has a different shape, different contour, different colour – no one person’s story is the same as another’s. Alone by itself, every piece is like a fish out of water, helpless, lifeless,Continue reading “The Jigsaw Puzzle – Metaphor for the Synodal Journey”

Synodal Eyes

Along with scores of “Thanksgiving Day” airplane passengers I stood anxiously awaiting the arrival of my luggage on the conveyor belt. A Miami airport worker arrived with a young man in a wheelchair and stopped about six feet to my right. Clearly a patient and victim of an orthopedic surgeon, the dreadlocks afro-looking young manContinue reading “Synodal Eyes”

Christmas Arrives, Christ Arrives

Like a river flowing rapidly downstream, Christmas Day arrives. After a yearlong journey Christ arrives.  At the arrival, I feel both joyful and fearful. Joy triggered by the gift of family and friends, the gift of my father’s life…his heart almost failed him, joy at witnessing the providential intervention of God over the last fewContinue reading “Christmas Arrives, Christ Arrives”

Christmas – Birth of Awareness

In my mindful meditation on Christmas Eve morn, I became aware, for the first time, of five distinct sounds coming from birds…from the base voice of cooing doves to the soprano pitch of an unrecognizable bird.  In silence I sat, allowing my mind to be bathed in these distinguishing sounds. Their melodic sounds gently flowedContinue reading “Christmas – Birth of Awareness”