O lovely Christ who  breathed life anew  into a child’s still form O lonely Christ who  endured agony and suffering  not just from the cross  but because of empathy  with Your beloved world still O lively Christ who  calls and commands, who  invites and admonishes  our leaving familiar,  habitual prejudice  to follow playfully,  lovingly, sometimes  doubtfully, traumatically,  through need and brokenness, finally to wholeness and home in You   O LORD   On this holy day when your people gather...

I sit at the Church of St. Agnes, images of the Holy Family all around. It is an oasis of quietness and reflection on East 43rd Street near New York’s Grand Central Station. Candles create soft light, as they burn placed in neat rows on tables set against the walls and near the door to the Confessional. Artful images of the Stations of the Cross, Stations near the Station, so to speak, surround me. The image of the Cross is here, too. People sit near me, some kneel, pilgrims from the streets...

“Who is this Christ, who interferes in everything?” These words were written by the Austrian poet and novelist, Rainer Maria Rilke, who...