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Friday, March 28, 2014

Mothers of the Fallen ~

How the pain of loss and its sting comes creeping into the daily life of 
the living mothers
 of the fallen soldiers. And they sit alone, suffering.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Friday, March 07, 2014

Deathbed ~


The priest came. The old man told him he didn't want to hear about Jesus and holy things, but he did want him to come back.


Friday, February 14, 2014

The Bombing of Dresden, February 13, 1945


To commemorate the day the bombs fell there was a concert in the Dresden opera: Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem. When the music had ended the audience did not clap. Quietly, everyone stood up and remained standing, long, in silence.

Saturday, February 01, 2014

Prayer ~


You don't have to go to the mountains to pray -- but sometimes it helps.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

How fast things change ~


I remember how, ten years ago, I would click into the internet and have the joyous feeling that I was connected with the world.

Now that click makes me wary and I feel as if I am in enemy territory.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Sexual Harassment ~

A six-year-old first grader in Colorado was suspended from school for one day for sexual harassment because he bent over and kissed his "girlfriend's" hand during a reading lesson.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Newtown ~ One Year Later


Newtown, Connecticut

14 December 2012



Angel of evil do not descend on this sunlit town in early morning,


First grade still unaccustomed to the day,


In corridors the shuffling of boots


Coats crowded on hooks, busy hands adjusting at desks.


The bell has rung, their teacher, she greets them, hovering.


Toward the windowsill their sidelong glances, the candle the wreath.


Their Christmas nearing. Still so new when seven.


Be merciful angel, do not alight. Stay winged, pass over.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Holocaust Stones ~ Germany


These are called "Trip-Stones" and are to be found on the sidewalk in front of houses where Jewish families lived who were deported and murdered during the Nazi regime.

 

Friday, November 22, 2013

What is God? ~


I must consciously free my mind from the idea that God is just a person who lived in Palestine. Christianity keeps me focused on that. Break away from that notion and begin to realize more what God means. 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar ~

When we wanted to become altar boys a nun taught us the Latin prayers at the foot of the altar. Now I can still say them . . .

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Solution? ~


In his latest book dissident Catholic theologian Hans Küng has revealed that he is considering assisted suicide. Oh?


Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Not Knowing ~

The most important things we do in life we do without knowing: like taking a spouse, like choosing a career, like bringing up children. We take the leap!


Sunday, October 13, 2013

Gratias ago ~



How lovely the sun this early Sunday morning shining at a low angle into the autumn trees in our garden and setting them on fire.

Monday, September 30, 2013

TV and Church ~

How many people sit before their TV sets watching Sunday services? Will that some day be forbidden so that people will have to go back to their church and fill up the benches?

 

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Summer's End ~


At our door the leaves are yellow and falling, the flowers bloom no more.
Autumn has crept in.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Best Moments ~




The best moments of the day: when sitting in silence and doing nothing but looking at the trees, the sky and the clouds.

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Trustworthy ~

Only 47 % of the German population now look upon the USA as a trustworthy partner.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Just heard on the radio . . .

. . . that they couldn't bury the Boston Marathon Bomber because there was no cemetery that was willing to have him.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Going to God ~

He said: Do not use words! Just be quiet for a few moments and open yourself, and allow the spirit of God stream into you. 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Trees ~




In Stuttgart as in Istanbul it was saving the trees that brought the people to demonstrate for democracy.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Obama in Berlin ~ June 19, 2013


A humbled President came and spoke, and made no attempt to upstage J.F.K with his famous speech, ..."Ich bin ein Berliner" fifty years ago, June 26, 1653.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Daily Prayers ~

Little did I realize that those Latin prayers I had to learn to be an altar boy would end up, seventy years later, as the prayers I recite day in and day out. 

Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc, confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, 
et Deus meus. . .

Saturday, June 01, 2013

Deus Obscurus ~

Instead of a feeling of exasperation, learn to marvel at the ways in which God hides from you. So hidden, yet so close.



Saturday, May 11, 2013

Springtime Vision ~




How can I look out over the greening fields and not see there a miracle taking place?

Saturday, May 04, 2013

Accidentally ~

For his fifth birthday the rifle, a present he shot and killed his sister with. She was only two.




Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Spring Leisure ~

Fell dead asleep this morning in the warm sunlight in the garden while trying to meditate, until a goldfinch came up close and twittered me awake.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Catholics and Protestants ~

He looked at me and said: If the Eucharist really is the Body of Christ, that is all the more reason to share it. If that is so, we should be welcoming everyone to the table.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Wise Old Monk ~

He said that I should realize that everything in my life fits in to the great inscrutable plan of God. There is nothing that is not as it should have been.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Hours ~

The fastest hour of the day is the one spent at the piano from nine until ten in the morning.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Living ~


No man is an island,
Entire of itself. . .


John Donne

No, it's the other way around: every man is an island, alone, and his life's labor is to cope with that.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Soccer ~

The first qualification games for the World Soccor Championships are being held now. Germany looking very strong. The Germans will play two friendly matches in US, one in Boca Raton, Florida, the other in Washington, D.C. in May and June.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Thinking about the First Graders ~


Newtown, Connecticut

14 December 2012 


Angel of evil do not descend on this sunlit town in early morning, 

First grade still unaccustomed to the day, 

In corridors the shuffling of boots 

Coats crowded on hooks, busy hands adjusting at desks. 


The bell has rung, their teacher, she greets them, hovering. 

Toward the windowsill a sidelong glance, the candle the wreath. 

Their Christmas nearing. Still so new when six. 

Be merciful angel, do not alight. Stay winged, pass on over.



Friday, March 15, 2013

Francis of Assisi ~ Pope Francis

If he just carries the name of Francis honorably, his contrubution will be great.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Papal Elections ~

They say there is a power struggle going on in the Vatican. Others say the Holy Ghost is at work descending on the cardinals with inspiration from on high . . . ?

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Piano Pleasure ~


In those last years, when I would play the piano Mother would come into the living room in her wheel-chair and listen.

One of the greatest pleasures I can think of now would be to play, knowing that she was sitting there listening.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

De Diligendo Deo ~


Why all the unsurety involved in upholding "I believe" which falls away with the surety of "I know"?

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Facets of Love ~

We were talking about love when he said: The novice and the 80 year old monk both love God but in quite different ways. You will never be able to keep on loving like the novice does.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

To Alleviate Suffering ~


He looked at me and said: Most men do everything they can to alleviate spiritual suffering, to rid themselves of it. But you must learn to suffer, to make peace with it and accept what it brings about.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012


Sunrise on Christmas morning. 

All was quiet and as the sun came up behind the hills it was as if some magnificent music was being played.

Sunday, December 02, 2012

De Diligendo Deo ~

During our talk he looked at me and said: "Maybe it's a matter of age, but later in life one seems to shift the emphasis away from the Son over to the Father."

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Mother ~


They were at a wedding and Mary said to Jesus: They have no wine. Jesus turned to her and said: "Woman, what have I do do with thee?"

Shame on you, Jesus, for offending your mother.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Brahms Requiem ~

After the Requiem was sung, and before the audience started to clap, there were two and a half minutes of complete silence.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Thérèse of Lisieux ~ Feast Day

There were ways to You she taught us,
Ways we never knew about or thought possible:
Like being a simple ball of no value, she said,
that You "could play with,
one You could throw on the ground
toss about, pierce, leave in a corner
or press to Your heart
just as it might please You".
from Therese's Writings

Monday, September 10, 2012

Good Shepherd ~

It was a struggle between calculation and trust: At night on the stairway in total darkness, instead of mobilizing all his sense perception he learned to trust his feet to find the steps.