Phillip Berry | Orient Yourself

A growing sense of foreboding permeated every waking hour. For weeks, he'd watched as the situation worsened. Unsure. Fearful. He prayed. He cried. He struggled.

Have you ever stopped to consider the moments when you are at your very best? Times when you are "in the zone" creatively, physically, or spiritually? In these moments, the clouds part, sunlight casts itself upon you, and clarity comes like a bolt of lightning.

To my eyes, the beach looked smooth and level. A day's rain had matted the sand down, condensing its normally deep, foot-swallowing layers into a flat and welcome walking surface. As I set my 20 month-old grandson, Cooper, onto the sand for his first walk on the beach, he gripped my hand with trepidation as he struggled to gain his balance.

C.S. Lewis describes hell, and all that is not heaven, as small because it cannot hold that which is heavenly. Lewis is trying to convey a sense of the magnitude of the Divine in contrast to the smallness of our own world and call us to […]

Did you ever see the movie, Rudy, starring Sean Astin as the unlikely hero of a University of Notre Dame football game in 1975?

Last week, as the polar vortex moved its icy fingers into our neighborhood, we found ourselves fighting with several maintenance issues in our home. Amid the cold and the snow, […]

The last thirty days have brought some challenges in our extended work family. Cancer has struck close to home in multiple places and we’ve watched those we work with, and care about, struggle with […]

Two parents and their teenage daughter sat together over breakfast in a hotel dining area. Eggs, bacon, toast…they ate quietly, watching television and occasionally commenting to one another. The sun was not yet up and the snowfall from the […]

Choices are the hinges of destiny. Edwin Markham his week-end, my youngest son asked his girlfriend to marry him. As a parent, this is one of the biggest decisions I cannot make and evokes a complex mix of fear and joy. For this young couple, their decision to marry each other is the biggest decision they will ever make. Consider […]

Forgive my single-mindedness. These weeks are consumed with the final stages of our move to St. Bernadette's. As we close-in on this milestone, I'm flooded with thoughts on the road to this point. The unlikely aligning of interests and objectives as well as the winding path to a conclusion.