A Meditation on Meeting Souls Gone By
I’m the kind of person who must “meet” people. It is the only way I can know them, living or dead. I must feel their presence on some level, or I cannot hope to truly…
Tag: Avellina Balestri
Easter to Me: A Personal Reflection on the Memories and Meanings of Holy Week
My childhood memories of Holy Week, when Christians the world over commemorate the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, are a kaleidoscope of images and impressions, turning from lighter colors to deepening hues. I…
“Ecce Homo!”: Pontius Pilate as Every Man
In the Passion Narratives of the Four Gospels, the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, is not portrayed as a menacing monster or two-dimensional villain, but as the image of fallen mankind, made of flesh…
The Riddle of Notre Dame
“Hold high the cross, so I may see it through the flames.” – St. Joan Arc, before being burned at the stake. ~ A holocaust of love Burning boldly through the dusk Cruciform, a candle…
Holy Darkness Blessed Light: A Christian Response to Non-Dualism
We are often told in pop psychology/spirituality programs that we should learn to “make peace with our dark side” and be content to have both “light” and “dark” elements of ourselves coexisting in harmony. We…
Lessons in Love from Five Royal Marriages
In the vocation of marriage, there are various nuances and complexities that make each and every couple share a unique story. History provides us with many stories of such couples whose long-suffering endurance and time-tested…
Two Worlds
Two Worlds Yet friend-bound Two minds Yet heart-bound By accident, almost Conversing, sometimes brokenly Translating, sometimes poorly Yet we understood enough To laugh To long To care And sometimes I don’t know What clay has…
Robin Hood, King Arthur, and the Call to Stand for Justice
Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 6, I fell in love with the legend of Robin Hood via the charming Disney animated classic depicting him, most appropriately, as a dashing, clever, and empathetic forest…
Honey from a Lion’s Ribs: Thinking and Praying Over Jerusalem
Light me a candle in the Holy City of my heart. And I will stand by it as the smoke ascends to heaven. Light me a candle in the Holy City of my soul.…
Laden with Fruit and Always Green
I step through the wood of my soul, hushed by the breathless winter pre-dawn, gray as geese wings, touched by the softest whisper of a star’s light, shining unseen beyond the snow clouds. Is it…