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Authority arises from intimacy. And intimacy is about spending time with the beloved, lovers lingering together until… Who knows? How long the lockdown? Next week? Month? When will the roar of ‘normal’ goad us into frantic action and dull our ardor for Him? Not inclined to rush these days, I am quieted by Love. Deeper than human need, no doubt provoked by it, my hunger welcomes Jesus. He apprehends the ache and surrounds it. He is my desire, the only One who holds my gaze and

I prepared myself for the worst last Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family. I prophesied a dismal homily on the too-radiant-to-be-believed triad: you know, ‘be holy as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are holy’, piercing neither the surface of family nor holiness. Wrong on all counts. My pastor pointed out the disparity between our generosity to family members and to strangers. We write big checks to orphans then all but get restraining orders on family members who ‘trigger’ us. Overly

Enslaved to many masters, a friend of mine wound up in jail. He sobered up when he realized that his ‘holding tank’ was a facility that his incarcerated father had helped build. Courageously facing that he ‘was imprisoned in his father’s house’ was a step for him in surrendering to Jesus who helped him find a new self and a new home in the Father’s house. Sunday’s Gospel reading is about a different kind of family, a ‘holy one’ with whom we are now very familiar—Mary, Joseph,

“When Mary was betrothed to Joseph but before they lived together she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a

‘When I talk about her, I cannot stop!’ St. Augustine ‘How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near Your altar, O Lord God Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You.’ (PS 84: 1-4) Let’s start