News & Articles
Being Read To
Taos, New Mexico, is a town famous for many reasons. Taos Pueblo has been home to an Indigenous community of Tiwa ancestry for at least the past thousand years. Spanish conquistadors arrived in the late sixteenth century. Kit Carson lived in Taos in the nineteenth century, and then, beginning in the early twentieth century, Taos…
Standing Firm
As the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passes, the news out of Ukraine is dark. Russian forces have achieved significant victories, and the Ukrainian death toll has passed 31,000. What President Zelensky needs right now is a strong recommitment from NATO and particularly the US to help his country and brave troops turn…
Fool Me Once
On a recent road trip, my wife and I passed through Roswell, New Mexico. We managed to make it through the infamous town without stopping for anything related to UFOs. But passing through Roswell did lead me to think about conspiracy theories. And that led me to think about The X-Files, the paranormal series that…
Feeding The Monk Within Us
I will never forget my first visit to a monastery. I was travelling through Kentucky for a speaking engagement and made a short visit to Gethsemani Abbey, the Trappist monastery where Thomas Merton was a monk. On that first visit, I entered the guesthouse where a monk paused from playing jazz on a saxophone to…
A DIFFERENT ST. VALENTINE’S DAY
Next week, an odd juxtaposition of commemorations occurs when Ash Wednesday falls on February 14, St. Valentine’s Day. On the surface, it would seem that the two remembrances couldn’t be further apart in meaning. Ash Wednesday invites Christians to remember that we are dust and to dust we will return. St. Valentine’s Day celebrates the…
WHAT’S YOUR CALLING?
For some people, career and vocation mean the same thing, but there are differences. A career is usually something a person chooses based on several factors—one’s interests, the salary, or one’s employability—while a vocation is something a person feels called to do. It isn’t surprising that vocation is often associated with a person’s spiritual life. …