religion

  • Ripening or Rotting

    Ripening or Rotting

    Fruit is either ripening, or it is rotting. I test high on liking to take personality tests, I like to joke. Of the many personality assessments I’ve taken over the years, one has been particularly clarifying for me as a leader. While I don’t remember the name of the instrument, my whole work team took

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  • Dilexi te?

    If you are a Catholic nerd deeply engaged Catholic, this is probably not your post. But if you saw some quotes from Pope Leo about poverty (that weren’t fake), and you were just curious enough to learn some rudimentary things about this document that the quotes came from, I am here for you. Let’s do

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  • I am eager to hear more. My first impressions of Pope Leo XIV, based on his “Urbi et Orbi” message, delivered at his introduction as the new pontiff, and the homily he gave at his first mass with the College of Cardinals after his election, are very encouraging. Two short addresses, given to different audiences

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  • Second Day Thoughts

    Second Day Thoughts on Pope Leo XIV More later.

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  • Habemas Papam

    Here’s what I posted on Facebook today. I plan to write more reflective notes on what Pope Leo XIV from the balcony and what that might mean for the Church tomorrow. OK Real quick because I have a day job: 1) I think this is a great if extremely surprising choice. There’s been a longstanding

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  • Be Not Surprised

    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?

    Who’s Next?

    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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  • A Saint and a Pope

    A Saint and a Pope

    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’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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