The baggage of Ordinary Time
Anyone who has ever had the misfortune to drive me to an airport, meet me at a train station, or share the trunk of a car with me on a road trip can tell you one thing: I do not travel lightly. Whether ...
Envy in Ordinary Time
"The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake." Thanks to the Disney franchise's uncanny ability to generate memorable movie tunes and some time spent recently with a young "Little ...
Isolation in Ordinary Times
Anyone who reads the daily newspaper finds within its pages a glimpse into the sorrow and despair that is -- and always has been -- a part of human life. It can be easy to grow a bit numb and detached ...
Perspectives on Ordinary Times
In these past few weeks, I -- like so many others -- saw the winter's first snowfalls. Since weather is a perennially popular topic for small talk, it did not take long to see that snowfall receives ...
Holidays of Ordinary Times
As I turned the calendar from December to January, I had a familiar, sinking feeling. Compared to December, January looks bleak. It seems like a long time until festivities once again fill our days. At ...
Beauty comes to Ordinary Time
It happens every year. I am an overly avid collector of Christmas tree ornaments. All year, they stay stashed away on shelves in the closet, crammed in storage boxes in the garage, and tucked away ...
Giving in Ordinary Time
It happens all year -- the requests for donations for all manner of charitable causes. Pleas come in the mail from children's hospitals, medical researchers, religious communities, and educational ...
The paradox of Ordinary Time
Every year, as Advent and Christmas approach, I seem to have the exact same conversation with one of my students. When I ask how the semester is wrapping up, invariably one of my students will tell me ...
