The View Up Here

After so much neglect, it was time to spruce up ye olde blog. I'm certainly not the same as I was several years ago when I began blogging. So much has changed - all for the good - so why not visually express that here?  The color families are among my favorites:  retro-ish ocean blue-green and cranberry. I took the photo in the header a couple years ago at Nantasket Beach in Hull, MA, close to where I grew up.  I will be blogging more about my practice of Tai Chi, experience with prayer, thoughts about living out my faith, and other delights such as film reviews and the occasional socio-cultural commentary. That's all for now. Cheerio.

Today I prayed my Rosary specifically for the conversion of China. The tyranny of Communism includes the destruction not just of ideas, but of people.  Human rights are trampled on, and history is rewritten. I recall my former Chinese students explaining patiently to me that they knew their government was censoring news and other forms of media, but that the government is there to protect them, like a parent. The notion that free flowing information was stopped up, censored, rewritten and repackaged held no repugnance for them.   For these young minds, having been wholly formed in this way, I pray.  I pray that the dignity of the human person regains its place over the supreme power of the State. I pray that freedom of religion and self-expression will find a place in China one day. I pray for Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong, who was arrested for his pro-democracy efforts and faithfulness to the Gospel. Since childhood, I have been attracted to and fascinated by the history, la...

This time, I really did forget that I had a blog. It's been over a year since my last post, and the only reason I remembered I had a blog is the link from my website. I'm not kidding. It's almost like I was busy with life or something.  Life.  Working, moving, working, discerning... I can't even crunch into a post what the last year has been like. I will say it has been challenging and at times I was in a deep depression (that is to say, mid-winter). But it has also presented amazing opportunities for friendships, spiritual depths, and personal development.  With only two weeks left of school, I'm looking forward to a summer of kayaking, Tai Chi, writing, and playing music with my new group "The Ivy Leagues."  Then there is the ongoing contemplative stance of listening and saying "yes."  I will blog more frequently as the powerful grip of the school year comes to a close.  Please pray for me, and be assured of my prayers for any readers I may hav...

Ever have one of those days that you're so grateful you have leftover chicken in the fridge that isn't too old to eat, and you have some raw shredded cabbage in there too so you can dip the chicken and the cabbage in blue cheese dressing and that's supper? Yeah.  This has not been a banner year pour moi. But I keep climbing because Jesus is with me and I know he's got this. But dang it, sometimes my grip is slipping and it's all I can do to hang on by one brittle fingernail. I keep hearing something faint, muffled. Jesus is speaking but I'm whining and carrying on so much I can't really hear him. Two syllables. "Hang on," I suppose, since that's what I'm trying desperately to do and I'm banking on his help. Because, really, I am a 98-pound weakling with no climbing skills. But the more I try to hang on, the sweatier my hands get and the fingernail is ripping through. It's only in that last breath when I'm sliding into the abyss ...

2020 was the year that stretched and formed me more than any other in recent memory, and I'm not talking about the Covid. Last August, I started teaching full time at a small Catholic, Classical school in Rochester. While I love my work and my students, the 50-55 hours a week are grinding me into a pulp. No brain matter for anything else, really. It has forced me, though, to be attentive to how I spend the time I have outside of work. Prayer is my priority - resting in His Love and praying the Liturgy of the Hours. I'm back to reading akshual books, which is a great gift of itself. Current read:  A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. But 2020 left me an orphan. After a year's struggle with gastric cancer, my brother Patrick passed into eternity on Nov. 27. Yes, the man who'd spent years in retail died on Black Friday. I can't help but think that was no coincidence.  Thankfully, we his family were with him during his last week. It was far more grueling than what I wen...

So many months have passed since I took to this blog. Here's a sweeping update: started new job at the new parish in a new town moved into a sweet studio with a giant back yard, functional if small kitchen, attached garage, lovely neighbors/landlords finished revised draft of Black Doves; it's with the publisher now. Hoping for publication this year. finished short story "Working Man"  started writing other short stories that will be collected together in a self-published work at some point in the future Sadly, I must also report that my brother Patrick was diagnosed with stage III stomach cancer just before Christmas. I am asking the Lord to open doors for me to move there -- yes even though I just moved here. It's time to go home. I need my family, and my family needs me. I've already blown through all my PTO and I don't have the money to keep schlepping back to the South Shore on long weekends. By the way, my new profile pic is of him and m...

I've been offline quite a bit this year. Another year of changes, as it has turned out. The big change is that I was invited to interview for an open Director of Faith Formation position at a parish two hours north of Elmira, in Macedon, NY, and I was offered the job. I accepted, but it meant a 3-week turn around on a move. Whew! That's not the fastest bug-out I've ever done - two weeks from interview to start date is my record (for the job at Cornell in 2005, NYS Move #2, incidentally). Because God is in the details, I have friends from college who live in Palmyra (next door to Macedon) in a giant 1800s farmhouse they've renovated over the last 20 years, and they invited me to stay with them while I looked for an apartment. I moved in on August 1st, started my job August 5th, and tomorrow, September 6th, I'll move into my new apartment just up Rte. 31. How wonderful! But really, moving, AGAIN. The older I get, the harder it is to move. God certainly keeps me o...