My Preaching

One thing you can always say about Rome is its beauty. It is a beautiful city, old and new, historic and yet still vibrant, with all of these strands woven together in a complex tapestry.

I especially love the way the light filters down into the narrow, winding streets, reflecting off the ochre walls of homes that are centuries old.

Sitting on the belvedere of Santa Sabina, watching the sun go down over the Vatican, sharing a glass of Amaro with an old Dominican friend, Mike O'Rourke. As we watch the beauty of the scene unfold, our conversation revolves around computers, network routers, and database programming; but there is still time to talk about life, mission, ministry, meaning, and how all that is shaping up for each of us, for the Dominicans, and for the church. A lot to talk about. Good thing a glass of Amaro lasts a long time, as does a Roman sunset.

In this photo the sun had set but the city had not noticed yet. Street lights had yet to come on, leaving the city in deepening darkness as the sky glowed orange. As the city turned into a two dimensional shadow, the dome of the Vatican became an arrow pointing to the sky and the beauty of the sunset. 

It occurred to me that this is the church at her best. Not a magnificent basilica, nor even a sheltering dome protecting the faithful, but a pointer to God's presence in the world.

While in Oxford, I had the opportunity to get away for a couple of days hike with Peter Hunter OP. We went to the Ridgeway, a trail that runs just outside of Oxfordshire following a chalk ridge through the English countryside. The pastoral scenes along the ridge remind one of the Tolkien's descriptions of the Shire in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Lying between Oxford and London, sandwiched between the intellectual ferment of Oxford and the incredible bustle of London, the trail seems oddly peaceful, like the Shire sandwiched between the warring nations of middle earth. All is calm here, and walking the trail, one has no concerns for what might be going on in the outside world. No cell phones, no newspapers, today we simply worry about where we will stop for lunch, how far to the next pub, and how the harvest is doing in the fields we pass. 

The wonders of modern travel. I fell asleep in Cleveland, Ohio and woke up in London, England. A short bus trip then brought me up to Oxford for a couple of days.

Summer is here in full swing now. Here at the lake, that means a very full schedule of doing just about nothing. All day, if you want.

Racing go carts at Goofy Golf is my nieces' and nephews' favorite activity, as you might guess from this photo. This is Nascar Nation.

Fishing. Another great summertime activity. This is my niece Megan fishing off the dock in front of her cottage on Lake Erie.

Whenever I get home to my mother's house in Wadworth, Ohio, we pass a lot of time sitting on the front porch.

I have returned to the United States, and now have time for some important things in life... spending time with my family.

Here I am in front of the zendo at Tenryuji, sometime in the middle of my second Osseshin, with its 12 hours of meditation a day.

We went begging today, literally. Called "takuhatsu," the Buddha advised his monks to live on only what they could beg that day.

Thierry-Marie and I received teihatsu, ritual head shaving, in preparation for another Ozesshin. Ozesshin is an intense retreat of sitting zazen for 10 hours a day in a zendo, interspersed with chanting sutras, walking meditations and a bit of work. Sitting on folded legs for so many hours every day is very painful, and one tries to use the pain to focus and clear the mind.