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Compassion is, by one definition, “a deep awareness and sympathy for another’s suffering.”
Karen Armstrong, the former Roman Catholic nun and one of the foremost writers on religion of our generation, and the renowned African spiritual leader and peacemaker Archbishop Desmond…
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Video
Do you find yourself adding more to your to-do list, even though you already feel overwhelmed?
Are your weekends just as jam-packed as your workdays?
When you try to pray, do you find your mind swimming with yesterday’s worries?
If, like me, you…
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I ran out of cash.
I lost my credit card.
I missed my flight.
And then, standing outside the United Airlines terminal at O’Hare, I dropped my cell phone, and as if in slow motion, watched…
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raising arizona ,
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trials and tribulations
If there had been a way to power-wash my brain, I would have done it.
The words, images, and emotions left with me after I watched a half-dozen video clips of actress Mackenzie Phillips’ interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this week…
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yom kippur
It’s a Latin phrase that the Order of St. Benedict adopted as its motto.
St. Benedict, the founder of the order, recognized the sacred value of hard work, the notion that through the sweat of our brows…
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Poverty ,
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“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
— Jesus in the gospel of St. Matthew
“From man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world.”
— St. Arnold of Metz, patron saint of brewers
When President Obama popped…
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One of the everyday things Vasco has enjoyed most since arriving in Chicago from Malawi five weeks ago is being able to go into the kitchen and pour a cool glass of crystal clear water, from the sink or the…
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Africa ,
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There’s roads and there’s roads Roads of the earth
— Bruce Cockburn’s “Child of the Wind”
Mali. Mozambique. Central America. The Himalayas. Kosovo.
I’ve never been to any of these exotic…
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Poor ,
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singing ,
songwriter ,
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Story ,
Storytelling
Twenty-seven years ago this month, Brenda and Scott Kniffen, a homemaker and an inventory manager of a diesel shop, were arrested and charged with sexually abusing their two young sons, Brian and Brandon, ages 6 and 8.
Under intense questioning by…
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abuse ,
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brenda and scott kniffen ,
Children ,
coercive interrogation ,
corruption ,
crime ,
documentary ,
exonerations ,
Film ,
Good Friday ,
injustice ,
interrogation ,
Jesus ,
justice ,
movie ,
prison ,
prosecutorial misconduct ,
public corruption ,
public hysteria ,
satanic cult ,
system ,
tainted evidence ,
witch hunt
It was a mouse. A Peromyscus leucopus to be precise — a white-footed mouse with…
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Poems ,
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values ,
wendell berry ,
white footed mouse
That is, in many ways, where we find ourselves today. It’s as…
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larry mullen jr ,
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riad ,
rock n roll ,
singing ,
the edge ,
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u2 album
“The difference between men and women,” the humorist Dave Barry says, “is that, if given the choice between saving the life of an infant or catching a fly ball, a woman will automatically choose to save the infant, without even…
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Prayer ,
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Women ,
Worship
Madea Goes to Jail , that I tried to go to last week were sold out. When I finally did get a ticket, I had one of the last single seats in…
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diary of a mad black woman ,
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madea goes to jail ,
movie ,
prison ,
Religion ,
tyler perry
Over brunch with my husband and one of my best guy friends last weekend, conversation turned, as it does, to Major League Baseball, doping and the nature of sin.
“A-Rod, possibly the greatest baseball player in the history of the game,…
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addiction ,
Alex Rodriguez ,
apology ,
Baseball ,
culture ,
Drugs ,
Forgiveness ,
Gay Marriage ,
Jesus ,
murder ,
Race ,
Racism ,
Religion ,
Scripture ,
shame ,
Sports
Let’s face it: Christianity has an image problem.
When you…
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President Obama’s inaugural address might not have been one for the ages.
But it certainly was the right one for the moment.
Somber, sober, and almost stern, our new president placed a mantle before the nation — We, the people — and gave us…
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1 Corinthians 13 ,
Apostle Paul ,
Barack Obama ,
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It was a glorious, moving event that had me in…
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Washington
The first openly gay Episcopal bishop.
The first female president of the Disciples of Christ.
The president of the Islamic Society of North America (who also happens to be a woman).
Three rabbis.
Bono.
And one Hawaiian shirt-wearing mega-church pastor.
What do they have in common,…
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44th president ,
anglican community ,
Barack ,
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Billy Graham ,
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Evangelical ,
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Homosexuality ,
Inauguration ,
Islam ,
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Partisanship ,
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We were vacationing at a friend’s cottage on the shores of Lake…
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Recenly, I had a bad day. Epically bad.
To work is to pray.
There’s roads and there’s roads
The first three screenings of Tyler Perry’s new film, Madea Goes to Jail, that I tried to go to last week were sold out. When I finally did get a ticket, I had one of the last single seats in…
Former President Jimmy Carter just published a new book about the ongoing violent unrest in the Middle East titled, 
.
Sunday afternoon, I sat in front of the TV with a box of tissues and watched every second of the “We Are One” concert at the Lincoln Memorial live on HBO.
