The Celtic Monk

Last week I sat amongst a group of bright and talented women as we continued to make our way through Joan Chittiser's book: CALLED TO QUESTION, A Spiritual Memoir. Though Sister Joan is a Catholic, Benedictine, nun and we are for the most part Protestant, married/widowed, career/retired women, it's amazing how similar the spiritual touch-points of her life and ours. Two things from our discussion are still with me. The first is that though life continues to unfold before us, our life is really the sum of the choices we make in response to what we find on our life's path. Secondly, we can make those choices from our own well of information, or we can make those life-forming choices from the depths of God's love for us and His life in us. Simply put, we choose to be God, or to seek God. For those of us reared and educated in the 20th century, in a country that reflects back to us the virtues of fierce independence and the right of might... the humility necessary to da

"Grammie, I heard magic" was Lauren's response to the familiar chiming sound just as we entered the Magic Kingdom on Saturday. If Disney is even in any small way a part of your life, you know the sound. I don't know why it surprised me that Lauren was already well acquainted with it...maybe it was just the sincere conviction with which she said those words -- "I heard magic" -- never doubting for a moment that 'something' had happened, whether or not she could see it. We recognize the experience in our own lives, don't we, not doubting something has happened whether or not we see it. We call it grace. It happens invisibly in moments of our lives that feel like gifts. It happens in the sacraments of Baptism and The Lord's Supper. It happens when we ask God's forgiveness and something happens that we cannot see. Grace is ours when life, regardless of its circumstances is good -- is very, very good. It was this week, last year, that I l