Saturday is a special day. I begin each Saturday with the opening verse for Saturday Sunrise in The Vitruvian Man’s Book of Hours… A leper came to Jesus and said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”Jesus smiled, stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him, “I do choose. Be …
Category Archives: Spirit
Thanksgiving
There is no holiday equal to the Thanksgiving of my youth. It was a grand affair when women wore dresses and men wore suits and ties. As the New England weather cooled and the last brown, dry leaves fell from the maple trees, Halloween a pleasant memory, I looked forward to Thanksgiving at Babcie’s with …
A Life Well-Lived
Stephen King is one of my favorite authors although I’ve only read 25 or so of the 75 books and a handful of the hundreds of short stories he’s written. I recently started his massive [800+ pages] 2011 novel 11.22.63. Like most of Mr. King’s work, 11.22.63 is an easy and exciting read. Like his …
Toyland
Fifteen years ago, I began work on my second novel which was published in 2010 as The Hamsa. I still refer to it as ‘my holocaust story’ although it covers 26 years from 1918 to 1944 and the protagonist is a Polish gentile, Bronisław Czech, the 349th person incarcerated in Auschwitz. I pride myself in …
Candles and Hummingbirds
From 2010 through 2016, I started every day at 0500 or sunrise – whichever occurred first – at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Picture Rocks, Arizona. Those were special years. My first act of every day was to kneel silently before the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help illuminated in the winter months by …
Hank Eichin Enters God’s Hall of Fame
I was schooled in sportsmanship by my father and a series of great coaches that started with Tom Farley at Pomeroy Elementary School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts during the 50s, then Rudy Benedetti at Pittsfield High School in the 60s, and culminated with Hank Eichin at the Air Force Academy in the late 60s and early …
Dealing with Cancer, #8 Post-Chemo
Lesson #8, the 2 to 1 thumb rule One month of chemo treatment requires two months of recovery. I am pleased that readers have found value in the series of articles we’ve posted regarding the cancer journey. Because of that positive feedback, I’m sharing a new experience with post-chemotherapy. In lesson #7 – 5 weeks …
Chosen
I learned of a potential physical challenge a year ago in August 2022. From the beginning, I have prayed the leper’s prayer, which he pleaded to Jesus, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” From the beginning, I believe I was chosen to be made clean. That conviction was validated yesterday morning when I …
Be Like John Boy
As I recall the scene from “The Waltons” [circa 1975], John Boy was in his room trying to figure out how he would earn the money to go to college. Grandma timidly knocks on his door and enters and gives him the minimal dollars and cents she has been saving for years for that very …
I have heard your prayer…
It is easy to fall into a funk when one encounters physical and mental difficulties. The more severe the difficulties, the easier it is to succumb to the darkness. My daughter and two grandsons came to visit this week. When she asked, “How are you?” I broke down for the first time in a while. …