christianity
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Though an unexpected choice, the new pope quickly won the hearts, not only of the faithful, but of others around the world with his humility, humor and ability to express an authentic connection with common, everyday people. He was a tireless advocate for peace who interceded with world leaders to try to end global conflicts.…
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Who’s next? I’ve been working on surrendering, the Lenten discipline that I did not ask for, with mixed success. On the one hand, I am learning that the Christian life is largely a series of invitations to surrender – to surrender the illusion that you can control … much of anything; to surrender the idea…
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Last summer, I went on retreat in Assisi with an outline I called “Francis x Francis”, and I don’t think I ever got around to sharing it here. The bottom line, though, is that I think you can find a lot of similarities between the life and teaching of Pope Francis and those of the…
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It’s going to be OK. It was the election of Pope Francis that got me into all this. In March 2013, I was in the back of a taxi in Washington, DC, when I heard the announcement that Jorge Bergoglio had been elected to succeed Pope Benedict XVI. At that point, I had been Catholic…
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Where are you this Holy Week? For those of you who are Catholic, Holy Week – starting with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter – includes a LOT of listening to Bible stories. Especially if you participate in the Triduum – marked by the services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on…
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Altissimu, omnipotente bon Signore, Tue so le laude, la gloria e l’honore et onne benedictione. One year I tried to give up impatient driving for Lent. That didn’t go so great. Count me among those who can’t wait for autonomous vehicles to replace all the other drivers on the road. Ad Te solo, Altissimo, se…
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You first. Starting with yesterday’s Gospel, the readings for daily mass have some challenging things to say about how we Christians ought to act. Yesterday, we heard: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” And: “Give to everyone who asks of…
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We have a Stage 5 God, a Stage 4 Church, and too many Stage 3 leaders. One of my favorite books on leadership is Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright. Their approach presupposes that people are social in nature, that workplaces are essentially tribes (or tribes of tribes, if they’re big…
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The readings that the Catholic Church uses for Sunday Mass and the ones it chooses for daily Mass don’t intentionally line up; the daily readings generally work slowly through a Gospel and another book of the Bible, while the ones on Sunday will work through a Gospel and another book of the New Testament, with…
Reading Francis 