During a time of social isolation, Provincial Minister, Fr. Jack Clark Robinson, said, " I  would like to try to connect with the friars each day, as well as with family and friends."  His desire to connect each day inspired his "Word of the Day" emails that are sent each morning. " I thought, what if I try to say something in a very few words that would give people something to think about.  So I ask for inspiration at morning prayer and Mass, then come back to my desk and try to put something down."  The response has been lively, as friars chime in with their thoughts on the word. View our current and past "Words of the Day" below! What does today's word mean to you? 

• Sunday, July 26th 
  • CLUE- Taking a clue from others’ actions or even from inanimate evidence provides great proof of human intelligence.  Taking a clue means observing words, actions, and things, then processing them in light of our own previous experiences to arrive at insights into what might have happened, be happening, and or happen in the future.  But taking clues well means learning not to jump to premature conclusions. 
• Saturday, July 25th 
  • TENACITY- Depending on the point of view, tenacity can represent anything from firmness of noble purpose and perseverance to achieve a worthy goal to stubborn refusal to open heart, head, or ears to any sort of sensible call to change.  Tenacity’s worth is regularly judged by those who experience tenacity in others, rather than in themselves.  Because everyone knows their own tenacity is a good thing!
• Friday, July 24th 
  • INTEGRATION- Before integration became a political term, integration described a value in life and art.  To integrate meant finding a way for two elements to work together, to support one another and enhance what each brought to the combination.  The result of integration was then greater than the sum of the separate parts.  Longing for common good means working for greater integration than so far achieved.   
• Thursday, July 23rd 
  • DEW- We are enveloped by air, and air contains water, not much in the desert, but still some.  The warmer the air, the greater the air’s capacity to hold water.  But if the temperature of car window glass drops low enough, the water in the surrounding air condenses.  We see what was always there.  Do not be surprised at the revelation due to the dew fall.
• Wedneday, July 22nd 
  • DRAWERS- Once upon a time everyone understood drawers, pronounced with only one syllable, to mean underpants, clothes worn under other clothes.  That usage is not so common anymore, but drawers with one syllable now most often refers to compartments in furniture which can be opened and closed, sometimes with something valuable in them, and sometimes not.  Maybe the meaning of drawers hasn’t really changed so much. 
• Tuesday, July 21st 
  • PROFESSIONAL- “A professional won’t let you down” goes the mantra, referring to the idea that if someone is being paid for their work, they will have the incentive to make sure that the work is done well.  Poor work means a poor livelihood.  But ironically, the first professionals were those who professed vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as religious so were not paid at all!
• Monday, July 20th 
  • QUEST- A quest is much more than a simple search for one thing or another.  Proclaiming a quest implies that finding what is sought will change lives, but more importantly, the search itself will change lives.  Medieval Franciscans went “questing” for alms for the poor, knowing that when people realized the deeper meaning of sharing with others, the lives of both recipients and givers are enriched.
• Sunday, July 19th 
  • SOLITUDE- When purposefully entered, solitude is not a time of loneliness, but an opportunity for looking at all of the things that we carry in our hearts.  We always carry memories.  We may carry regrets or sorrows.  We may carry resentments or anger.  But amidst those things, solitude offers time away from their noise to rest in quiet, to let go, and to search for hope.  
• Saturday, July 18th 
  • YOUTH- Most very young people dream of being older, doing things that they cannot yet do.  Many older people dream of being younger again, to do things that they once did in their youth, but can no longer do.  Youth may well be the greatest single source of our dreams, dreams to be fulfilled and dreams destined to fade, we hope giving way to treasured memories
• Friday, July 17th 
  • OWNERSHIP- I long to own only my mistakes, failures, and sins, in hopes that I can take them with me when I finally leave everything else behind, so others may not suffer because of them.  The good that I might have done, I long never to own, but to give away, in hopes that every good will be multiplied as others also give that good away.
• Thursday, July 16th 
  • JEALOUSY-While jealousy appears to judge others, their possessions and their talents, in reality by my jealousy I am passing judgment on myself.  Jealousy causes me to judge what I have, to be less than what others have, becoming a true two-edged sword.  By my jealousy, I cut down the value of my gifts, while also cutting away my ability to appreciate the gifts of others. 
• Wednesday, July 15th 
  • WISDOM- Learning to discern good from bad, truth from falsehood, the appropriate from the inappropriate puts people on the way to knowledge.  But categorizing every discernment we make as an either/or question puts a brake on becoming wise.  Sometimes we must expand or contract our usual categories to make room for the wisdom to find a greater good, a greater truth more appropriate in the moment.   
• Tuesday, July 14th 
  • GROUNDED- No one waiting on an airplane to fly off on a long-awaited journey ever wants to be grounded by bad weather.  But if safety demands grounding, being grounded on an airplane begins to take on the value of grounded electric wiring, being something extra done to prevent unwanted shocks or accidents.  A grounded person, steady in the storms of life, remains always a good companion.   
• Monday, July 13th 
  • OK- Though no one knows for certain where it came from, the word OK is generally thought to be the single most recognized word in the world, used to ask and answer questions in dozens of languages.  Most words have a range of meaning, but casual speech words like OK extend meaning at the expense of precision.  And we all seem to be OK with that.
• Sunday, July 12th 
  • KINDERGARTEN- The German origin of the English word kindergarten, “children’s garden,” invokes the idea of a place where a great adventure begins with wide-eyed curiosity and open minds intent on discovery, with a desire to play well with others, and an eagerness to learn all about the wide world.  Some of the best human minds and greatest human hearts also learned not to graduate from kindergarten!
• Saturday, July 11th 
  • GRATITUDE- Being thankful and saying so for the help others offer and the good that they do, not only for us, but in general, defines gratitude.  Gratitude then creates a willingness on the part of those who work to work harder and on the part of those who receive the benefits for that work to be more grateful.  Gratitude is the perpetual motion machine of kindness.
• Friday, July 10th 
  • WORDS- Most often words begin as tiny expulsions of air from near the human heart, though some flow from signing fingers, or fingers wrapped around pencils, or fingers flying over keyboards.  Words can accomplish, or cause to happen, most things human beings ever do.  How words are joined together can inspire, amuse, educate, instruct, or deceive.  Words are not to be wasted, but valued and treasured.  
• Thursday, July 9th 
  • IGNORANCE- However much we learn, as limited human beings, we will forever encounter many things we do not know.  Wisdom begins with embracing ignorance and learning how not to know things!   There is no shame in ignorance, unless from willful pride, arrogance, or vanity, we attempt to ignore or hide that ignorance, rather than acknowledging it in a way that allows the continued quest to learn.
• Wednesday, July 8th 
  •  BALANCE- Work and play and rest of hands and hearts and heads, when we give each their constantly changing due, when we balance them, they bring fulfillment.  Life rides on a teeter-totter that can not only go up and down, but from side-to-side.  Like past and present and future, like work and play and rest, like hands and hearts and heads, life depends on balanced change.
• Tuesday, July 7th 
  • DANCE- Enlivened by music, everyone from a toddler waving arms and torso on wobbly knees to hundreds of elaborately costumed Pueblo Indians with carefully practiced, synchronized steps passed on for generations from mother to daughter and father to son, enters a new world through dance.  Dance transforms mundane walkers into spirited pilgrims. How we move together to get there becomes more important than a destination.
• Monday, July 6th 
  • MUSIC- Music does not need words to express any and every human emotion.  From the rhythm of a mother’s heartbeat heard by the child in the womb – the first music anyone ever hears, to the caress of the lullaby, the plea of a love song, the powerful anthem, and finally the wail of the dirge, music scores; music notes all human life with time and pitch.  
     
• Sunday, July 5th 
  • REFLECTION- In a mirror or in meditation, reflections challenge us to really see ourselves.  We do not see ourselves exactly as others do – a mirror image is backwards, and the opinions of others often have as much to do with them as with us.  Yet reflections remain the best tools we have to show us things we like or want to change about who we are.  
• Saturday, July 4th 
  • HOLIDAY- Holidays emerged in Medieval Europe from “holy” days, when holy heroes of the Christian Faith were celebrated. Usual daily activities gave way to pilgrimages, prayers, feasting, and often much more raucous celebrations when holy duties were done!  Holiday breaks in routine, even involving extra work, refresh the human spirit.  They remain holy, even as many may question what ideas, events, and heroes are worth celebrating.  
     
• Friday, July 3rd
  • HELL-To freely refuse to accept human or divine help offered when we are in need for whatever reason, reveals the gates of hell.  To freely decide never to ask nor accept the help of others from a delusional trust in my own wisdom or knowledge, strength or talents, opens the gates of hell.  Theology has never been, and will never be, necessary to find hell. 
• Thursday, July 2nd 
  • HEAVEN-Whenever we glimpse, even briefly, the presence of good, without sting of regret or fear of the future, with peace in our hearts and minds, a sense right relationship and unity, that place, that moment in our lives, foretells heaven.  Yet however wonderful that may be, there is more, as heaven promises as well the unimaginably complete fulfillment of who we are meant to be.
• Wednesday, July 1st 
  • HOPE- Hope begins when the heart whispers, I know that there is something better than what I see or what I hear in the noise of the world.  Then the heart whispers somehow, someway, I am called to bring about that greater good.  But if we do not work with conviction and courage to turn that whisper into a shared shout or song, hope can die.  
• Tuesday, June 30th 
  • HEARTH-  When homes were heated by open fires, the hearth was the magical place where fire was contained and heat was radiated.  Modest homes had only a single fireplace, so on long nights, everyone gathered around that one source of warmth.  But hearth warmth also came from being together as stories were shared, sewing done, books read, and tools mended.  We will always need warm hearths.
     
• Monday, June 29th 
  • HOME-No house is a home without both outside and inside.  The outside defines that from which we need shelter, whether harsh weather or troublesome others.  The inside provides familiar spaces and faces allowing a sense of safety and security.  Beyond outside and inside, homes need windows and doors for the flow of fresh air, ideas, and people, so as not to become prisons or bunkers.
• Sunday, June 28th 
  • HOSPITALITY-The greatest gift offered in hospitality is not food, or drink, or shelter, but presence.  To give your full attention to someone else, to be truly present to them in the moment, even if you have no food, drink, or wisdom to supply, is the greatest possible act of hospitality.  For in offering your attention, you proclaim their intrinsic worth, and your own innate humanity.
• Saturday, June 27th 
  • X-RAY- The scientist who discovered x-rays, unable to directly see them, called them x-rays, as “X” often means “unknown.”  The name stuck, even when x-rays became the first practical tool used in medicine for “seeing” things otherwise not to be seen inside the human body.  Things that we cannot see on our own, when we work together to learn to use them, can reveal unknown truths.   
     
• Friday, June 26th 
  • TAXONOMY- We practice taxonomy all the time, discerning an animal with a spine; whose young are hatched, not born; who have wings and feathers, so to be a chicken or an ostrich, a robin or an eagle.  That simple example, with those startling differences at the end, shows us that classification is useful, but nothing and no one is only a classification.  Everything, everyone is individual.    
• Thursday, June 25th 
  • UNDERSTAND- Too often the word understand seems turned on its head, so that saying “I understand,” allows the speaker to “stand over” what others experience and put those experiences in a tightly closed and controlled box.  What would the world be like if more often we actually “stood under” the experiences of others and allowed ourselves to be informed by their understanding of their own experiences?
• Wednesday, June 24th 
  • PROPHET- Prophets seldom profit from prophecy, instead prophets are often brought up short by those who reject what they have to say.  But the compulsion to tell forth the truth as they see it, not to foretell the future, but to speak to the present, will not release their hearts until prophets speak.  They long for whatever has caught their hearts to catch ours as well.  
• Tuesday, June 23rd 
  • STATUES- We need more statues not fewer.  Do not scrub history clean of those who did evil.  Without reminders, we forget evil to the peril of good.  Raise up statues of those whose lives were put down, and witness to a more complete truth.  Let new statues of the oppressed boldly proclaim the need for truth, and our duty, not to forget, but to overcome injustice.   
• Monday, June 22nd
  • RECONCILIATION- Without admission of the wrong that has been done and an acknowledgement of an effort at repairing the wrong, true reconciliation cannot happen.  For some hurts, reconciliation requires no more than an apology and the acceptance of the apology.  But when the hurt, the wrong, goes deep, and long, and wide, reconciliation requires ongoing hard work by all involved to bring about healing and change
• Sunday, June 21st, 
  • TIME- Day follows day.  Time passes, when we take no notice of its passing, or when we notice moments which will always mark time as before this or after that.  The Greeks had two words for time, one for its regular passage, the other for those moments in our individual or collective lives which remind us, that all time is special, whether we notice or not.
• Saturday, June 20th 
  • EXERCISE- Our bodies are made to move, and our minds to think.  Exercise means moving the body or using the mind purposefully to strengthen either.  To exercise in such a way as to increase the grace, power, and ease of the body’s movements, or the insight, depth, and discernment available to the mind, gives life to every day and without doubt adds days to every life
• Friday, June 19th 
  • YAWN- Supposedly the primary reason that people, cats, lions, tigers, and dogs all yawn stems from tiredness or boredom, an indication that brain activity has slowed.  Dealing with sleepy animals seems a relatively easy task.  Let a sleeping dog or cat, lion, or tiger lie.  But sleepy, bored people with slowed brain activity prove that a yawn can be a great warning sign of trouble, too! 
• Thursday, June 18th 
  • DAYBREAK- That moment when sunlight or alarm clock intrude into the dark or silence of sleep, the day breaks open fresh, unknown, and new.  Dawn breaks open the spell of night with promise.  One possibility is to take a deep breath and say, yes, I am ready for this day to bring good things.  Though another possibility is to pull the covers back over your head.   
• Wednesday, June 17th 
  • UMBRELLA- Word meanings shift and change.  Reading Shakespeare or opening an umbrella prove those shifts and changes.  Umbrella initially indicated something for shading people from the sun.  Parasols still do.  Words are born, then sometimes they grow, change, or fade away.  If I got my wish, and we called an umbrella, a “rainstopper,” umbrellas could open in the sun again, instead of in the rain!
• Tuesday, June 16th 
  • WONDER- Sunrises, sunsets, faces of children and lovers, the smell of flowers and grilled onions, birdsongs, thunder, the touch of a breeze and taste of clear, cool water on a hot day, all of these gifts help us to know the power of wonder in our lives.  Wonder planted by beauty, given growth by appreciation, and coming to fruition in contemplation; wonder surrounds the open heart.  
• Monday, June 15th 
  • FINGER- You put your finger on the question.  Fingers flying over the keyboard or piano.  A finger on the trigger.  A finger on the button.  A finger in the pie.  A thumb on the scale.  A thumb in the eye.  Fingers point out things good and bad that human beings can do with intellect, will, and work.   All while we leave fingerprints all over the place!      
• Sunday, June 14th 
  • QUIET- Real quiet requires letting go of thinking about something and thoughts that ramble through our minds.   Not that we are not thinking, but that we are not consumed with our thoughts.  They fade away and little sounds emerge, whether a birdsong or a distant car driving down the street, and in quiet we hear things that we seldom hear, outside and even inside our hearts.
• Saturday, June 13th 
  • MIRACLE- When happenings positively exceed all expectations of what will happen, no matter that our later understanding of what actually happened changes, we see a miracle.   Miracles are not as much about an exception in the usual working of nature in the world, but a change in us of our understanding of nature, of what is possible in the world and in us.  Miracles do happen.  
• Friday, June 12th 
  • OUCH- Could the oldest entry in the dictionary be neither a noun or verb, an adjective or adverb, or even a preposition, but ouch?  Ouch reminds us that words are always about the clear expression of what is going on inside us and around us. Ouch can be said in so many different ways, that no one is left speechless, when the hammer hits the thumb. 
• Thursday, June 11th 
  • ZOO- In zoos, we bring animals from their world into our world, from their natural habitat to an artificial habitat which we create.  We have found good purposes of education and even species preservation to justify what we do.  But does a primitive urge to preserve our sense of control over the world or be amused by the behavior of others put people in zoos, too?    
• Wednesday, June 10th 
  • WEATHER- “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.”  We live most of the seasons of the year; we live most of the seasons of our lives, within an expected range of weather.  But we also experience extraordinary weather events: droughts, storms, heat waves, and cold snaps, that catch us off guard.  So, weather continually trains us to deal with crisis and to appreciate normality.
• Tuesday, June 9th 
  •  KINDNESS-Recognizing our common humanity in small ways can grow quietly into a big thing.  To offer something when you see the need, even something of little value itself: a smile, a compliment, a helpful word, or a glass of water, is sure to make someone else’s day better.  To do those things over and over again, is sure to make us and the world better.
• Monday, June 8th 
  • BOOKS-No physical object can contain the breadth, depth, or height of human experience or relationships, but books can come close.  The impulse to share the story, whether a story real or imagined, or a story that is not a story at all, but an attempt to explore scientific observation, becomes the way that all of us can find ourselves between the covers of a book. 
• Sunday, June 7th 
  •  DIGNITY- To know and to act upon the value and worth, both in ourselves and in others, that comes from being human, rightly acknowledges the dignity that is owed to all of us.  None of us have human dignity until we can see it in ourselves and in others.  Human dignity only resides in any of us, because it is part of all of us, without exception. 
• Saturday, June 6th 
  • INVASION- With an implication of force, violence, and resistance, invasion initially implies something only negative, without the possibility of a positive result, whether it is the invasion of an army or of a virus.  But sometimes, especially with the invasion of new technologies or ideas such as vaccines or democracy, invasions can result in unforeseen, yet long-needed changes.    
• Friday, June 5th 
  •  MYSTERY- Not a puzzle to be solved, but hidden truth to be pondered, mystery lies all around us.  We speak of the mysteries of life, of love, and of faith, knowing full well that we will never fully comprehend those mysteries.  Mysteries that we cannot unravel or safely put away in little boxes in our heads remind us that what we know is not all there is to life, love, or faith.
• Thursday, June 4th 
  • CELLULAR-  Phones that we carry around with us are called cellular phones in the United States, cellular being the adjectival form of cell.  A cell is a circumscribed space, in a monastery or in a prison, or even in a human body.  Life happens within cell walls.  Phone tower signals reaching only so far create cells for cellular phones.  Are we freed or imprisoned by our cells?
• Wednesday, June 3rd 
  • ANGER- Anger expresses the difference between what we believe should be or should happen and our experience.  Anger itself is not wrong, but is useful in motivating change.  If anger begins to take control of us, ending our ability to live positively with ourselves and others, it is time to breathe deep, slow down, carefully assess the situation, and deliberately, not hastily, change what needs changing. 
• Tuesday, June 2nd 
  •  CLOUDS- In the desert, clouds hold promises of rain and life.  Clouds in a hurricane carry the possibility of death.  High clouds catch the sun, and low clouds darken the day.  Changing clouds in the sky water our imaginations, while metaphoric clouds dampen our spirits.  A Japanese poem says, “From time to time as I watch the stars, clouds come --- to rest my eyes.”   How do we see clouds?   
• Monday, June 1st
  • EDUCATION- An important part of education is developing the ability to deal with ignorance.  No matter how much anyone learns, no one can know it all.   A good education instills great curiosity and a willingness to admit ignorance.  The best, and most necessary education, allows for an unlearning in ourselves and being ready to show others things once thought to be true, then recognized as false.
• Sunday, May 31st
  • PREJUDICE- We learn without realizing that we are learning.  Native language and childhood comfort foods become part of who we are.  They become our culture.  Our cultures root us in the world and help us live well.  But when we pick up prejudices from our culture that keep us from seeing things, and most painfully, people, for who and what they are, culture must be overcome.  
• Saturday, May 30th 
  •  NONVIOLENCE- True nonviolence always begins with an overwhelming desire, and the focused discipline, to change myself, the circumstances around me, and others’ hearts without the destructive use, or misuse, of power.  Nonviolence does not mean passivity.  Nonviolence requires lots of work beginning in my own heart, then in the world around me, by joining with others of like mind to reduce the many causes of violence.
• Friday, May 29th 
  •  VIOLENCE- Reactionary social violence is a collective heart crying out in defiance of powerlessness to control circumstances, others, or self, and though undesired, merits light judgment.   Violence inflicted by choice as an exercise of power to achieve control over circumstances or others merits severe judgment.  The most frequently chosen and/or defended form of social violence is silence and inaction in the face of evil.    
• Thursday, May 28th, 
  •  UTTERANCE- An utterance seems somehow different from a statement, maybe more anticipated or solemn, even if brief.  Could it be that utterance takes on those attributes from the “utter” within it?  Utter means not only to speak, but as an adjective utter means complete or total.  So somewhere within our subconscious, does an utterance make whole, complete, and final what a statement begins
• Wednesday, May 27th
  •  ZERO- What genius, draw a ring around nothing and turn it into a numeral, that stands for a number, that is not there!  That old jumble of symbols made arithmetic nearly impossible, but suddenly numerals line up into straight columns where each space has meaning, held in place by a ring around nothing standing for a number that isn’t there, but plain for all to see.
• Tuesday, May 26th 
  • XENOPHOBIA- Sounding clinical, judgmental, and dismissive, xenophobia actually describes a necessary caution in dealing with strangers.  For every stranger holds every potential for good, for ill, or for in-between.  Experience teaches the need to remember that.  But when that needed caution turns to irrational fear, xenophobia reduces the world we can live in, and us, to a shadow of what both could have been. 
• Monday, May 25th 
  • YESTERDAY- Every day yesterday changes.  Yesterday not only moves through time each day, but moves through our hearts as well.  Some yesterdays make us glad that they are gone, and some make us so sad at their passing, that we cling to them, as if we could keep them from going.  But every yesterday ends, so we work to make today into a good yesterday tomorrow.
• Sunday, May 24th
  • ART- Art comes about from the manipulation of objects.  Art can range from a bird’s nest to a spectacular Hollywood movie, from a cave painting to a symphony, from the arc of a jump shot to a bit of lace.  Through art we perceive things in new ways.  Art joins creativity, imagination, and work in unexpected ways to set meaning and beauty free from previous constraints. 
• Saturday, May 23rd 
  • ROCK- Is rock one word or two?  Seldom do nouns and verbs spelled exactly the same mean things so radically different.  Rock the noun indicates stability and lack of motion, while rock the verb is all about movement, movement unrelated to the noun.  Stone does not have this problem, as the noun and verb seem closely related.  So how do you rock a rock
• Friday, May 22nd 
  • OCCULT- The holiest of people, the holiest of places, the holiest of words, all have something within them that is occult, if you take occult back to its root meaning of “hidden.”  Occult came to be associated with evil, for the hiding of the occult came from shame or fear or because what was hidden was unacceptable or evil, and some things are.  But blanket condemnation of things hidden, keeps everyone in the dark. 
• Thursday, May 21st 
  • VOWS- Vows encircle the depth of the heart and the depth of the will to bind them with an intent to form an unbreakable bond of perseverance. Vows are commitments made first to ourselves and then to others, whether spouses, friends, society, nation, or God, which proclaims that with all my being, I will try to do what I promise to do. They give structure to our lives and purpose to our living. 
• Wednesday, May 20th 
  • KINSHIP-To profess kinship with another recognizes the reality of who we are.  To call the sun – brother; the moon – sister; the earth – sister and mother; fire and wind – brother; plants, flowers, and water - sister recognizes something even greater.  All things are related in a kinship, that when acknowledged, opens us to truly be who we are and to become our best selves.
• Tuesday, May 19th 
  • INSPIRATION- Human beings have knowledge, skills, and energy in abundance, just as the day has sunshine.  But then along comes an inspiration to bring things into focus, like a child’s handheld magnifying glass burning a hole in paper, sending ants running, or lighting a wick for a candle to be kept burning through the night.  What was already there changes forever with but a single inspiration.
• Monday, May 18th 
  • AUTHORITY- Not only do the words author and authority begin with the same letters, when correctly applied they stem from the same purpose.  They attempt to give, or more fully give life to their subjects.  Authors do it with words.  Authority does it with directions.  But both when done with proper purpose do what they do, not for themselves, but for the sake of their subjects.
• Sunday, May 17th 
  • BEGINNINGS- Historians continually search for the beginning of things, and often argue over whether they have found them!  Beginnings are hard to find.   Was this said, was that done, or did this happen because of this or that or the other?   The search for beginnings can help us understand where we are, but should never rob us of the initiative to go where we want to go, to make new beginnings.    cc
• Saturday, May 16th 
  •  CORNERSTONE- A cornerstone shapes an edifice.  With square sides and flat top, the walls of a building extend in straight lines governed by the cornerstone’s lines, and walls rise straight fitting one stone on top of another from the cornerstone’s flat top.  The cornerstone is both measure and foundation, with aspirations carved into it or sometimes hidden inside.  Shaping our cornerstones is the work of a lifetime.
• Friday, May 15th 
  • LEGACY-No one can know the fullness of their legacy to others, for a legacy is not only words said, actions taken, and relationships engaged, but a legacy is also how those words were received, how the actions are perceived, and how the relationships reciprocated.  Our words said, actions taken, talents used, and gifts given are never finished until they belong to someone else, until they are our legacy.
• Thursday, May 14th 
  • WAITING- Whether in fearful dread, in anxious uncertainty, in unrelieved boredom, or excited anticipation, many events and moments in our lives are tied together by waiting.  Human existence is rooted in time, which means very simply that not everything - important or commonplace - happens all at once, but in sequence.  One measure of our lives is what we do “in between,” while we are waiting. 
• Wednesday, May 13th
  • HEALTH- There is no more relative term than health.  “How are you feeling?” asked by doctor or friend, by spouse or parent, always elicits a unique personal interpretation of health. Some responses may indicate a denial of an actual physical, mental, or emotional state – or an excessive concern with it.And every once in a while, the response is a surprisingly accurate and detached assessment!    
• Tuesday, May 12th 
  • NATURE- With irresistible patience and power, nature governs and sustains all living things.  To imagine from ignorance that human beings can set apart who we are from nature by skin or skull, by bodily form or human thought, invites injury to ourselves.  To impose that same separation from nature on the world by arrogance, threatens injury to all our fellow creatures. 
• Monday, May 11th 
  • VESSELS- Vessels, rubber rafts or luxury yachts, carry things from one place to another, but vessels do more.  Vessels create an expectation of what they carry.  A silver goblet and a paper cup may contain wine poured from the same bottle.  But expectations of the contents of a raft, yacht, goblet, or paper cup differ tremendously.  Vessels shape not only their contents, they shape us. 
• Sunday, May 10th 
  • SERVICE- “Thank you for your service,” as the phrase is now commonly used has many connotations, and some of them convey an ever-present irony.   Whole-hearted service, freely given, involves a willingness to place others ahead of myself and in and of itself implies that the reward sought for what was done comes from a satisfaction that the server values, even if others cannot see that value
• Friday, May 8th 
  • SMILES- Nothing says something is wrong like a false smile.  Nothing says that all is well between us like the exchange of sincere smiles.   They rise from heart to face at the simple joy of being together, from a shared response to something seen or said.  Then a smile proclaims that our connection to each other has a value that we long to reinforce and preserve.  
• Thursday, May 7th 
  • HANDS- Shake (though maybe never casually again), touch, hold, feel, smack, slap, punch, caress, fondle, sooth, comfort, massage, knead, pinch, pull, push, and grasp all come to mind off the top of our heads as things we can do with our hands.  And all of those things make possible the progression from thought to manipulation (handling) to tool to civilization.  Quite literally, life is in our hands.  Wash ‘em!
• Wednesday, May 6th 
  • RULES- Recipes for cakes, instructions when “some assembly is required,” and directions to get us where we want to go, are all sets of rules.  Those rules help us obtain goals.  Rules may fence us in, or free us; guide us along our way, or guard us from external threats.  Rules outside us exist for many reasons.  Rules inside us give structure to our lives.
• Tuesday, May 5th 
  • WOODWORKING- The “stone age” was probably wooden.  Wood certainly appears to be a more workable material than stone today, and probably was then, but unless prized and treated with care, objects of wood do not last like those of stone.  But when worked well, polished, and ever so intricately pieced together, worked wood is beautiful art, and a reminder of our need to prize and treat each other with care. 
• Monday, May 4th 
  • PAIN- When the difference between the expected norm and harsh reality produces a sense of unease, whether from a physical injury or sickness, or from an emotional, spiritual, or social cause, we recognize that unease as pain.  Amazingly, human beings perceive in themselves the pain of others, but without proper reflection, our empathy becomes a longing to mask the unease, rather than change the reality. 
• Sunday, April 3rd 
  • FLOCK- We speak of shepherds as lone figures binding human communities together.  But most of us want to gather, to be part of a group, to be part of a flock, no matter the shepherd.  Often those who do not fit in with the flock, who lack our common longing to be part of a group are those who become shepherds.  Their singularity can be a gift, or a false promise of leadership.    
• Saturday, May 2nd
  • GRACE- When we glimpse that there is something greater than we can imagine in the very fabric of the universe which subtly pushes, pulls, and entices us and everyone and everything around us toward harmony, beauty, reconciliation, and peace, as we see it in the actions or words of others or ourselves, we enter a moment of grace.  Grace is all of creation giving birth to hope. 
• Friday, May 1st 
  • LABOR- From the beginning of human existence, some things have to be done to maintain life.  We must have food and shelter, and most of us require clothing for the sake of others if not for ourselves!  But the doing of what must be done to obtain those things with dignity in such a way as to contribute to the good of family and society, becomes what labor is meant to be, our co-creation of the world.   
• Thursday, April 30th 
  • STORYTELLER- Storytellers of every sort speak louder than words, because they attempt to find and share a truth that is inside all of us and present that truth in such a way that it can be seen or heard or felt and taken into our hearts -  consciously, unconsciously, willingly, or unwillingly.  Great storytellers never lie.  They bare their souls and ours.  
• Wednesdays, April 29th
  • RAINBOW- A rainbow shows us what is always there in sunlight, different colors traveling together to illuminate the world around us.  The principle source of light, life, and energy on earth, even that mediated by the transformation of ancient lifeforms into coal and oil, originates in a union of hues.  Jewish Scripture made it a sign of restored harmony and modern iconography a symbol of diversity.    
• Tuesday, April 28th 
  • SIN- If our faith teaches us and our experience allows us to know that love is essential to the order of the universe, then one way or another sin is a failure on our part individually or collectively to respond to the love that brought us into being as individuals and as families and societies, even as nations.   Real repentance seeks to restore what was lost in the failure to respond to love. one   
• Monday, April 27th 
  • MARTYR- The word martyr is derived from a Greek word meaning “witness.”  Early Christians quickly adopted the word to signify those who witnessed to their faith with their lives, famously dying for their faith.  But sometimes dying for your faith may be a whole lot easier than living it day-by-day.  Living out faith every day no matter the circumstances, often takes great unseen courage and fortitude.
• Sunday, April 26th 
  •  TOUCH- A comforting touch requires no physical contact, nor does a hurtful touch, nor a healing or stimulating touch.  Often the touches which change others’ lives are not physical at all.  A surgeon or chiropractor might disagree, but a psychologist or teacher knows the power of touches with words and looks.  Who will I, how will I touch someone today?  And how will I be touched?
• Saturday, April 25th 
  • PATIENCE- Doing nothing is not patience, while realizing that I cannot do everything now is patience.  Sorting through the difference between what I can do in any one moment and what will take time to accomplish is the beginning of patience, not only with the world and with the actions of others, but also, and perhaps most importantly, the beginning of patience with myself.
• Friday, April 24th
  • SILENCE-Silence in the world is the absence of sound, something missing which in our everyday lives is almost always there.  Silence in the heart is not an absence, but an openness to what God may say through the world, through others, through experience, - - - through - - - silence.  Silence is a gift that prepares us to receive countless other gifts.    
• Thursday, April 23rd 
  • JUSTICE- Children never say, “That’s not just,” when they think their piece of candy too small.  They protest, “That’s not fair.”   Fairness refers to my limited, personal point of view; justice refers to bigger, external measurements.  Justice seeks the best possible outcome for everyone individually and collectively, protecting the weak, while restraining the powerful as each situation warrants.  Let us strive to be just.    
• Wednesday, April 22nd 
  • EARTH-The soil my mother worked with her fingers in flowerpots, the place space travelers announced in the movies as “we are from,” and so many, many things in between are all earth.  Nothing could be smaller and more concrete nor more abstract and larger – on earth - than what we describe, imply, and mean when we use the word “earth.”  But how will we use the earth itself?
• Tuesday, April 21st 
  • SUNSET- In Hebrew Scripture, sunset marked the beginning of a new day.  Sunset drew us together for without the protection of sunlight, dangers lurked everywhere.  Then when we come together in the light of each other’s company, to work together, tend the fire, light the lamps, and share our stories, that is when a new day can begin.  What stories will we tell to begin a new day at this sunset?
• Monday, April 20th 
  •  SUNRISE-For countless centuries human beings did not know that we must move to have a sunrise.  For all appearances, the sun climbs across the sky, and we have a sunrise.  But in reality, imperceptible earthly rotation - our movement causes us to think that the sun moves, while we are perfectly still.  What other movements in ourselves have we missed?
• Sunday, April 19th 
  • MERCY- Mercy is humility seen from a position of power.  Humility is truth, a recognition of who I am, and who others are.  Thoughtful human beings with power know that their knowledge, wisdom, or judgment will always be incomplete.  So to impose their power or judgment on others without considering our mutual limitations is to invite mistakes that will hurt them and us. 
• Saturday, April 18th 
  •  QUARANTINE- Though I do not have access to the origins of the word, quarantine looks like it comes from the word for the numeral 40 in Latin.  As in the 40 days of Lent, or the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, or the 40 years of Israelite wandering, a quarantine was not only about dying to the old, but also about beginning a new life.   Let us get ready to start something good.  
• Friday, April 17th 
  • DREAMS- Dreams are not visions; visions not dreams.  Dreams are overarching longings of the heart.  Visions are glimpses of how to reach the fulfillment of dreams.  Dreams without visions are nightmare traps of inability to get where to where the heart longs to be.  Visions without dreams are fantasies, or even fanaticism, because they are the compulsion to go without having a destination.
     
• Thursday, April 16th 
  • LIGHT- Thinkers and scientists have sought to determine the mysterious nature of light since human beings began speculating about the world around them.  Light is everything from a burning candle in a dark cave to the burning sun in the desert, and many, many things in between.  The presence of light reveals; its absence conceals.  What do we reveal with our mysterious natures?
• Wednesday, April 15th 
  • HISTORY- History is not alone what has happened, but also how we perceive, understand, and remember what has happened.  That is why the study of history is a conversation with those who have been to places we can never go, because they are distant from us in time.  Honest conversations help us increase our understanding of ourselves as well as others, but no one gains from a totally one-sided one!
• Tuesday, April 14th 
  •  TEACH- Teaching happens from the first perception, conscious or not, of words or actions or of a person deemed significant, useful, practical, or entertaining by the perceiver.  That perception happens all the time.  We are all always teaching and learning.  What we choose to learn changes us.  What we choose to teach changes others.
     
• Monday, April 13th 
  • NORMAL- Normal lies at the intersection of experience and expectation.  Normal means things that have happened before, lots of times, or things that we expect to happen, because we can see them coming.   Normal allows us to navigate life.  But when neither expectation nor experience prepare us for what is happening, we are lost.  Then we most need the experiences, the expertise of others.
• Sunday, April 12th 
  • JOY- Happiness is a reaction.  Joy is a chosen stance.  Joy chooses to take an appreciative attitude toward experiences.  That attitude comes from the realization of the basic goodness of the world around us, despite momentary mistakes or setbacks on a personal, or even global scale.  Happiness says it is a good moment.  Joy proclaims that life is good.    
• Saturday, April 11th 
  •  GRIEF- Grief arrives in our lives when anything else departs.  Grief reminds us of our love for people who left our lives and of the comfort we took in the familiar.   Grief comes from remembering what was but is no more, and imagining life without that loss.  Loss and change are inevitable.  Grief is part of all of our lives that grows heavier in isolation but lighter when shared. 
• Friday, April 10th 
  • COURAGE- Courage allows some people, some of the time, in some circumstances, to go beyond an expected response of fear in a situation or to a person to arrive at an unexpected place of insight or strength.  Courage is not to make a foolhardy or arrogant response to fear, but to see a clear need for change and find in one’s self the ability to resolutely respond.
• Thursday, April 9th 
  • COMMUNION- The impulses to hoard and to share are both part of being human.  They appear to be opposites.  But deep beneath that appearance, they both seek to preserve life.  Hoarding is a short term, limited, and often self-defeating effort, while sharing in communion and community creates the bonds which in the long run promote and preserve life worth living – and sharing. 
• Wednesday, April 8th 
  •  FEAR- Loose rocks at the edge of a precipitous high cliff prove that fear is a good thing.  Fear protects our physical lives, but when it comes to our emotional and mental, our spiritual lives, fear can do more harm than good.  Caution may rightly pace our progress, but fear should not stop our growth.   
• Tuesday, April 7th 
  •  FAITH- From the first moment of our collective and individual consciousness we come to know the limits of our knowledge and power.  We cannot know; we cannot do, so many things.  Faith, which cannot be willed, bought, or stolen, but which is always a gift, fills the void between what we can know and do, and what we need to give meaning to life.   
• Monday, April 6th 
  • HUMILITY- A humble person who does great things acknowledges and appreciates those accomplishments, without letting accomplishments, looks, knowledge, wealth, position, power, or any other external thing determine self-worth.  HUMILITY is truth, and the truth is that self-worth comes with being a human being, remembering the worth of every other human being as well.  
• Sunday, April 5th
  • PASSION- The root meaning of passion is suffering.  But root meanings only start the story of a word.  Passion has taken on an additional meaning of longing to be with or about or close to someone or something.  In that longing, suffering remains, because we can never achieve perfection.  Passion pulls us out of ourselves but never gets us all the way to our goal.  
• Saturday, April 4th 
  •  LOVE-  Love can arise from emotions, but enduring love means deciding to attempt first, to put the welfare of others ahead of yourself, in your thoughts, your words, and your actions; second, to be open and vulnerable to those others in such a way as to still put them ahead of yourself, and third, to know that not loving perfectly must not keep us from trying to love.   
• Friday, April 3rd 
  • PRAYER- Deep prayer invites listening, not asking; to open mind, heart, and spirit to things we need to hear.  The language of prayer is the language of the heart.  The language of the heart is the language of the lullaby.  No more powerful than the infant held in caring arms, you are loved in prayer for who you are, not what you say or do.