Oftentimes I think we forget that we are incarnational beings.  Historians tell us that Giotto, while painting the walls of churches or working on smaller panels, would walk through the streets of where he was for inspiration. He believed that something sacred happened in the everyday interactions and events that life brings to us. In his own way, he recognized the incarnation in the simplicity of life, the sacredness of the mundane.  Today’s society, I believe, wants us to b

Advent is coined as the season of hope. This year, at least for me personally, it feels a little different. When I look around at our society and our world, I see a lot of despair. Hatred and violence seem to still be the main navigators on our journeys. It’s been hard for me to find hope during this season this year. Where does hope come from? I think despair comes from a continued role of things going poorly, of things not going the way we would like them to go or how we ex

Spending a few days at the Franciscan Renewal Center meant spending time praying and reflecting with this beautiful stained-glass window of the Assumption. While the image is an abstract representation, we can see the figure of Mary rising up through the window into the upper portions. As I sat reflecting on it, I was surprised to see that a spiral was used in the middle of the image, including in the figure of Mary, to give the image movement. While it is pretty common to us

As we begin to celebrate Francis of Assisi this evening, there’re stories from his life that can still inspire us today. With all of the stories of his life, there are two that always seem to offer something in the difficult times of life. The first happens to be my favorite depiction of Francis. It’s not the famous Cimabue Francis or what we would consider the “bird bath” Francis, but is instead a statue of Francis that sits out front of the basilica in Assisi where his rema

On the days between the celebrations of the Exaltation of the Cross and the Stigmata of St Francis, I’m reminded of this cross that was made by a blind man out of the remains of the old US/Mexico border wall in Southern Arizona. Looking back, it was probably the thing that began and still does inspire me to seek out the beauty in the difficult times and circumstances of life. The cross in our society has become a symbol of burden and suffering. We can often find ourselves say