On Tuesday we celebrated the Feast of St. Valentine, a third-century Christian martyr. The two most popular hagiographies about his life locate him in third-century Rome. They say he was a leader in the Church (either a bishop or a priest) who ministered to and supported Christians in a time of severe persecution under the emperor Claudius Gothicus…
Read MoreTrinity is about to end and I find my prayer practices are limping feebly toward its conclusion, just as they have limped feebly through most of Trinity. When I reflect on the expanse of the last twenty-something weeks I see, in my mind’s eye, a desert landscape. It is a dry, rocky expanse. It reminds me of the Coachella Valley: bordered by low-lying hills, roughly textured by boulders, sand, scrubby sagebrush, sheer sandstone cliffs, and little green-trunked trees that bloom with bright yellow flowers…
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