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In my 52 years I have gone to one opera. It was a production of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. I cannot remember the name of the opera [...]

One of the more difficult things in life is learning the art of discerning the bad from the good. How to separate one from the other? No one need be [...]

My kindergarten teacher was Miss Temple. I went to Jackson Street School, which, wonder of wonders, was on Jackson Street in Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y. My twin, Jimmy, and I [...]

Two friends traveled far to visit me here at the monastery. Anne and Pat are from New Jersey. They have been blessed with a warm, enduring friendship and easily share [...]

The first roller coaster I saw was the Cyclone at Coney Island, N.Y. I was in kindergarten and my mom and dad took my sisters and brothers and me to [...]

One of the more important things in life is to learn how to get through it with verve, gusto, pleasure, humor and, perhaps most of all, the willingness to share [...]

It was that strange time, just before sleep comes, when the mind seems open to whatever thoughts wander into it. And when those thoughts come, they evolve on their own. [...]

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon [...]

The restaurant was on the top floor of a new hotel in Beijing. In fact, the restaurant was the top floor. Huge windows overlooked the city. The hotel was brand [...]

Many years ago I was waiting for my friend to gather his bags and say farewell to his parents. He was on his way to Rome and I offered to [...]

My friend wrote a beautiful letter to me. His words come from many parts of his life -- from his hopes, from those he loves, from scenes on his street [...]

I have met some interesting people over the years. Actually, I believe that everyone is interesting, given the time, place, heart and gift that goes into knowing someone. I remember [...]

Yesterday I drove Fr. Augustine to the eye doctor. He had laser surgery a few weeks back. He is as kind a man as they come and was the abbot […]

His name I cannot remember, though his face is as vivid to me as it was when I last saw him. He was 9 years old back then, so he […]

A man was here to buy bonsai pots yesterday, and we had a nice chat. One topic moved to another: from jets to lights to fires to frauds to things […]

We store our bonsai pots in what was once a dairy barn. That it was a dairy barn is obvious, for there are still two troughs that run the length […]

She is an elderly nun and was here several months ago. She stopped me one morning after Mass and asked if we could chat. We went down by the lake [...]

Pee Wee and I work side by side. We wrap and ship bonsai pots from a barn here at the monastery. I am white; Pee Wee is black. We are […]

I have been watching this white cat for several months behind our barn. When I am wrapping pots and have the large door open, I can see tier against the [...]

Not long ago a woman came to buy some bonsai pots here at the barn and she pulled her van into the old barn where we store our pots. I [...]

We have a new kid working here at the bonsai barn. His name is "JP," which is short for John Paul. Soon to be 18 years old, he is lanky […]

I once went to a writers' conference in Boston. The conference included classes in which the teacher read short stories written by the students. After the story was read, we [...]

On the top of the columns surrounding St. Peter's Square stand enormous statues. They are very old and have been reinforced over the centuries. The stone is porous, and weather [...]

She told me, many years ago, how she had left institutionalized religion -- in her case it was the Roman Catholic church -- because it did not address the dilemma [...]

When I was a little kid, a real treat was a day trip to the beach. We lived in Hempstead on Long Island, and Dad drove us in our old [...]

I spent most of my years in the Northeast, and a large part was spent in parishes in the Newark, N.J., area. I met a lot of people during those [...]

Not far from here, a woman named Dorothy is about to embark on a journey of mystery and beauty. She is dying. Her body is no longer capable of supporting [...]

People often tell me how hard it would be for them to get used to rising as early as we do here in the monastery. We rise every morning at [...]

There is a cemetery in Iowa. I liked walking there in the cool of the evenings. It was early September. It is just across the road from our monastery called [...]

Not too long ago I attended a wonderful series on the biblical meaning of Sabbath. For most Christians, Sabbath means a weekly time of rest or putting things down and [...]

Do you find stars beautiful? I do. I have written about them before. I suppose that for centuries, words have been crafted in their honor. And rightfully so. In ages [...]

Her name was Chi. She was a 'boat' person who fled her native Vietnam when that country swiftly altered course in the mid 1970s. She and her husband and three [...]

For many years I lived close to Manhattan and went there often. No matter what the season, New York City was and is beautiful. In the summer I sat on [...]

In the early evening I sit in a chair on the porch behind our church. The porch overlooks the graves of our departed monks. In the distance I can see [...]

Just recently there was an article in the paper about a major Christian denomination's convention. During the convention, one of the keynote speakers shared his insights on Hinduism, telling his [...]

Once a week, a prayers is read by the hebdomadery (the monk assigned to read the prayer). It goes, 'Let us not fall into sin.' When that prayer is read [...]

When we were kids we lived on a dead-end street that was ideal for playing cowboys and Indians, army games, Viking conquerors, all sorts of games that had winners and [...]

Such wonderful gifts arrived this day and night. A letter, the light of day and the stars of night. Henry James wrote, 'We work in the dark. We do what [...]

There was a row of shops not far from the house in which I grew up. Many needs were met by those all stores: food, dry cleaning, a drug store, [...]

Her name was Elvira. Basil and I were washing dishes together, and I watched his hands lift the large dishes in and out of the soapy water as he spoke. [...]

Susan Sontag once said she could always tell when a writer was in love. It's the intensity, the passion and the joy that reveal the dizzying heights of the writer's [...]

Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister's Monastery of the Heart is a wonderful book, ideally suited for anyone who seeks the lived meanings of monasticism as these are to be found within [...]

A week or so ago I was in our retreat house. It was a hot day, and I talked with two women about the weather. 'It's been so dry,' one [...]

I am 57 years old and the voice of my mom still comes to me at times. She lives some distance from here, but her presence is never far. Last [...]

There is a new digital camera on the market. Its manufacturer boasts of its anti-shake mechanism. The technology somehow stills the inner workings of the camera when you take a [...]

Every evening, before night prayer, which is called compline, Eduardo, our sacristan, quietly enters the darkened church and readies the sanctuary for whatever needs to be done that night and [...]

I once knew a little boy who ran in front of a bus. The bus slammed into him and he was rushed to a hospital where he remained in a [...]

Night before last I was at Winnie's house, and her granddaughters were there. Erin is 12 and Colleen is 7. They were there for an overnight stay, and we sat [...]

His name was Tommy Boyle and he lived on in a tiny farmhouse in Ballyhaunis, Ireland, in County Mayo. I stayed with him for a while during a summer many […]

Two men delivered my furniture and I liked them a lot. I never got their names and feel bad about that now but I shook their hands and offered them [...]