New School-Year: Anticipation and Anxiety

New School-Year: Anticipation and Anxiety

For kids, the transition from summer vacation to a new school-year can be both a time of excitement and anticipation AND a time of fear and anxiety. Readying kids for school involves practical and physical preparations. Checking out wardrobes, replacing outgrown...
Lenten Wilderness–Desert and Jungle

Lenten Wilderness–Desert and Jungle

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tested by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over he was famished.” (Matthew 4:1-2 NRSV) One of my...
The “O Antiphons”–December 17-23

The “O Antiphons”–December 17-23

The expression “O Antiphons” was new to me a few years ago. But to my surprise, I have been singing the “O Antiphons” for most of my life in the Advent/Christmas carol “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The antiphons are descriptors of the expected Messiah and express the...