“It was Saturday, when it was still night…it was already beginning to dawn…He heard singing on the summit of the hill, as if different precious birds were singing and their songs would alternate as if the hills were answering them. 

“Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began.

Recently, one of my foundational small groups broke open an unpublished homily given by one of our great modern-day mystics, Thomas Keating [Contemplative Outreach News Volume 38, Number 2 June 22].  The homily was given on August 19, 2001, and was entitled “Our Myths of Peace.” …

Yesterday, six years ago, I looked up at the sky as the sun was just about to set.  There was an oddity about the way it looked.  It appeared as a white circle enclosed by a dark circle.  It really didn’t look like the sun at all. …