Maybe it’s stepping out of line to head for Emmaus this early in the year. Most eyes are focused on Jerusalem with Easter still ahead. This should be a well-paced time of year, as we travel together through our continuing, life-giving story. We know this pattern: the fear and the hope, that evening meal, the…
Last month, I told you about an AI program that can predict protein shapes. Just like the letters that make up a word, the amino acid chain makes up a protein, and the 3D shape it forms determine what a protein does in the body. If one of the amino acids changes, the shape changes…
Throughout the world many Christians recite or chant on a weekly basis the ancient Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, with these familiar closing lines: “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” When repeated so frequently, it is easy to neglect their inner meaning. Yet the words nevertheless enter our…
Our bodies hold a mystery at the molecular level: how do the chains of amino acids that make up all our proteins fold into 3D shapes? When your body uses proteins, it does not read them from one end of the chain to another (like it does for DNA, or like we do when we…
TO TRADESPEOPLE You are the backbone of our economy. To our electricians, painters, carpenters, plumbers, pipefitters, welders, heavy equipment operators and technicians, automotive service technicians, motorcycle mechanics, tool & die makers, millwrights, metal fabricators, landscape horticulturalists, cooks, hairstylists; to any CC readers engaged in the skilled trades as a means to earn a living. Fortunately,…
Whatever is happening in your life right now, my prayer for you is for breath, perspective and joy: that you can take in great lungfuls of fresh air as needed, sparking some amazement for how that fuels us and also eases tense minds; That you might slip outside the edges of all the rules into…
The human voice is a powerful instrument. Through speaking, singing, whispering and shouting, our voices express much of the human experience. Our voices are also basic to our sharing meaningfully with others. Through verbal communication we express a range of emotions and experiences: anger, desire, sympathy, fear and amusement, among others. I became particularly attuned…
Father, comfort and sustain our health care workers in these horrendous days. Protect them and their families and friends from the worldwide pandemic. Give them courage and hope. When they are overwhelmed and exhausted, give them respite and rest. In a profession where the standards are so high, help them forgive themselves when the workload…
COVID-19 has achieved one positive change that four decades of advocacy failed to achieve. It has forced society to recognize that care work is essential and needs to be considered part of a well-functioning economy. Care work can be broadly described as work, paid or unpaid, that helps others meet their basic needs. The pandemic…
To students May you know that the effort you make in classes and your community are like stones thrown into a pond that ripple and have effects you won’t see at first. May you know that you have lived through things that can help you. May you remember what you know about love, yourself and…
For families with school-aged children and for those involved in education, the terms school closure, remote learning, Google Classroom and Zoom likely increase your blood pressure and accelerate your heart rate. In the 62-year history of the school where I work, 2020 marked the first time when students were not permitted to come to school:…
The North African bishop Augustine of Hippo famously said that hope has “two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” The last year was extraordinarily difficult for many, and the temptation to lose hope is real….
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