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? 

• 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.