I try very hard not to be That Parent. The one who thinks the rules don’t apply to their little angels and blisters the ears of the people who dare to challenge either child or parent. I figure the best way to have successful relationships in my kids’ schools is to problem solve together, not…
Read MoreAll articles filed in Lent
My World As Lent Begins
Causing me pain today: My shoulders and back. After twenty years, I am accustomed to joint/muscle/back issues and I know a lot of stretches and most of the release points for the usual suspects, but this one is different, causing an aching pain that radiates down my left tricep (triceps?). Thank God, my massage therapist…
Read MoreA Tale of Two Easters, Seventeen Years Apart
The most amazing Easter of my life was the year 1998. I was in Iowa, without a car, living in an eight-room suite with a group of people I barely knew and counting myself blessed to be out of the roommate situation I’d suffered the semester before. It came on the heels of a Lent…
Read MoreThe Fasting Isn’t The Most Important Thing
In February of 1995 I crashed over the edge of an emotional cliff when the relationship I was involved in ended without warning. (Actually, there was plenty of warning, I was just too naïve, i.e. clueless, to recognize the signs.) The months leading up to that emotional cliff, I was as far from my faith…
Read MoreThe Crosses We Choose
Reflections on the Stations of the Cross Jesus is taken from the cross and laid in the tomb All through Lent, the thirteenth station has stymied me. As I brainstormed topics, it stuck out from the others, not because the application was so obvious as to be trite, but because I came up blank. I…
Read MoreTo Make Sacred
Reflections on the Stations of the Cross Jesus Dies This Lent I’ve been reading The Last Week, by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. The authors set out to put the events of Mark’s Gospel into historical context–the geography, the politics, the religious and cultural norms, and most importantly, how those areas intersect. Obviously those…
Read MoreOn Forgiveness, When No Forgiveness Is Possible
Reflections on the Stations of the Cross Jesus is Nailed To the Cross I began this series with a story about a really bad roommate situation. The last few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about that situation, and realizing what a grudge I still hold. It’s a little ridiculous, truth be told. That all…
Read MoreStripped of Humanity
Reflections on the Stations of the Cross Jesus is Stripped Of His Clothes The first summer I worked with my dad on the farm, we were also preparing for my sister’s wedding. One morning my mother came out of her room and grabbed me by the arms with a vaguely wild look in her…
Read MoreGrief
Reflections on the Stations of the Cross Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem There are times when I want to reach into the Gospels and shake Jesus. It’s not all his fault, of course. Some of the blame lies with the evangelists–these guys were not telling a complete story, only the highlights. No story makes…
Read MoreVeronica
Reflections on the Stations of the Cross Veronica Wipes The Face of Jesus One thing about growing up on a farm with three siblings is this: there’s always some sort of vehicle available, but that doesn’t mean it’s in great shape. Cars get really beat up and gunked up when they spend that much time…
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Kathleen M. Basi 