Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
In 1918 the photographer Eric Engstrom wanted an uplifting picture for a nation at war. He found a subject in Thomas Wilden, a local food peddler, at his dinner table in solitary prayer. I’ve kept the picture close to remind me of how, when, and where I first understood prayer. In an earlier post, I shared the story about an event that occurred in September … Continue reading A Prayer, or a Plea
The dogwood tree outside my bedroom window is blossoming. When I open the drapes in the morning and look out from my second-story window, I see hundreds of small white flowers. I first noticed the buds opening on Easter morning, and my first thought was: Praise the Lord, Christ has risen. I sensed what the Jesuit poet Gerald Manley Hopkins sensed when he wrote: The … Continue reading A Thought on Prayer (by Joe N.)
Friends, I’d like to dedicate this post to one of the most skilled sailors I know: my cousin, Dennis Parker, the elder of the Moriarty clan, a friend to many, and my first hero. In the opening act of Shakespeare’s Henry VI, the King appears in a forest, disguised and carrying a prayer book. Thinking he is alone, he speaks aloud while trying to … Continue reading Smooth Seas Do Not Make Skilled Sailors
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” ― Martha Washington And yet in places like Gaza and Ukraine and the Sudan it’s impossible to believe that anyone could find happiness in such harsh, brutal and terrifying circumstances. But miraculously, people do. And it is one of the great miracles of life. We see it … Continue reading The Flutter of Happiness
[There are videos in this post. We recommend clicking the link above and reading/watching directly from the website.] “Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.” ~ Thomas Moss A thought on the humanity of those who live in … Continue reading The Humanity Found in the Crevices