This meditation is the story of a contemporary man, who because of the pressures of his job has little energy to give quality time to his growing family. His work has become his passion and life as a whole a mere expedience. But something has gone wrong. His wife is lonely and tired of the responsibility of raising their children practically alone. This workaholic father has shown more interest in the market on Wall Street than in the market of the human heart. Due to his wife's promptings, he begins to realize that for too long his arms have been too short to embrace God. He begins to awaken to a deeper and more spiritual approach to life. He finally recognizes that it is better to work to live than to live to work. In a time when modern fathers, on average ,spend only fifty three seconds a day with their growing children, the prayer of a workaholic father is a timely reflection. It challenges us to make value choices for the sake of an integrated family life .

In our modern world we digitalize and computerize everything. We take supreme notice and give exuberant amounts of praise for mankind's inventions. We take huge satisfaction in our achievements. We become more and more amazed at our scientific discoveries. We stand in awe at the complex intricacies involved in information technology. But we remain blind to the staggering machinery of human life. The human brain weighs three pounds. Yet, if we were to make a computer capable of functioning like the human brain. Such a computer would take up a space as big as the planet. Our human inventions are wonderful, yes! But let us be cognizant of the mind behind the human mind. God is a living reality, whispering in our world, in our fields, in our woods and in our wombs. The warm hand of God invites us to be conscious of god's presence and goodness.

The photographs in this meditation were taken in Appalachia, the Bowery in New York City old age homes in Connecticut and in West Africa. Touch and Heal is very suitable for Lenten challenges. The plea come through that somehow, anyhow, we as individuals become involved in a world which is groaning with suffering and loneliness. Jesus said, "Whenever you give a drink to one of these the least of my brothers or sisters, you give it to me." Touch and Heal is a challenging meditation on social awareness. It stresses that we personally, in our own small way can make a difference. Bridges depend on the support of pebbles!

We live in times when the problems arising from the greenhouse effect are foremost in our news bulletins. We have become increasingly aware of the fact that there is an inter- relationship and an interconnectedness between all living things. We live on a planet where infinite growth cannot fit into a finite world. We humans have only been present for five percent of this world's history. Our planet has spent ninety five percent of its time living without us. Unless we learn to embrace the biosphere as sacred we will destroy ourselves by our arrogance. The planet can and will survive without us. Like all that exists, we too have our place in the great chain of being. We are only links in that chain. Holy Ground reminds us that we are stewards, not masters. All nature is revelatory. Through different and faithful expressions of life, we are reminded that all living things stand in attention to god, except man. We alone are out of tune. We do not sing a hymn for the universe rom the same hymn sheet.

This meditation centers on the realization that our hearts are restless. We seem to be never satisfied. We finally purchase a Mercedes only to have it replaced with a longing for a Rolls Royce. No matter our achievements and our accumulation of material goods, we remain ill at ease or dis-eased. We long for something more. When we have fulfilled our dream of acquiring the latest gadget, we often become disappointed and soon forget the urgency of our belated all consuming passion. We ask, "Is this all there is?" There seems to be an inbred desire for divinity stamped upon our souls. We seem to be strong wired for God. We seem to be doomed to be spiritual. There always remains an implacable disquiet with finiteness. As Karl Rahner said; "There remains an insufficiency in all that is obtainable.” This very distraction is in itself a proof for the existence of God. Why would nature stamp such a longing on our psyche if it were only to end in bankruptcy? Once again in this meditation we are reminded that nature is revelatory. It is our first scripture. The river is most encompassing at its estuary, not at its source. All life is on the road to somewhere. The Unquenchable Longing asks that we set our priorities straight and pay heed to the river-run of our lives.

This meditation is based on the twenty third psalm. It is very suitable for old age homes, hospital and hospice services. It is a meditation full of hope and promise. It gives comfort to the sick and the suffering. God the Father takes care of us in a million ways we seldom notice. His attention runs like laughter everywhere. This meditation sensitizes us to the notion of God's provident care.

This is a moving story about a wayward young man who has forfeited his spirituality. Realizing a disruption in his life, he turns to God. He takes heart in the conviction that God is good and proud of his masterpiece. God did not created us to damn us. God is compassionately available always. God understands our struggles more than we understand ourselves. It is very easy for God to forgive sin. All God needs is that we admit our failures and come home as a prodigal son back to him again. "Though your sins be as red as scarlet, i will make them as white as snow." This is good news. Along with this pledge of comfort, there is as always, a social dimension and a challenge in the sacrament of penance . Our confession box must be as big as the room we make in the inn of our hearts. Just as we are forgiven, so too we must forgive. Too often we pauperize the sacrament of penance in our preoccupation with minor concerns. Too often we neglect to examine our conscience, in the major areas of global concerns and business ethics. The automatic recitation of a grocery list of sins, is an insult to God. This meditation on the sacrament of penance takes an unconventional approach. It is a confession of sins that perhaps we have never considered. Too often, through rote, we confess minor misdemeanors, while neglecting our deviance from more major ethical issues.

This is the story of Father Larry Haines, a member of the society of African missions, and a native of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is my brother is a meditation on a man, who took Christ at his word, forsook the comfort of home and went to a poor land in West Africa to help its inhabitants realize their dignity and worth. Convinced that the earth is a family and that the only flag worth waving is the planetary one, Father Larry went on his mission with the compassion of Christ vibrating through his being. "Whenever you give a drink to one of these, you give it to me." He is my brother sensitizes us to poverty in the third world. This program is suitable for Lenten studies and social awareness classes.

Jesus has told us that the god of life is within each one of us, "The kingdom of God is within you." The most epic journey a person must make is the journey into his or her own soul. This meditation asks us to take the veiled road, learn to look beyond the obvious, and see the dimension of God in and through all that is hidden. God leaves traces everywhere. God is more in the subtle shadow of the candle's glow than in the alluring and consuming power of neon light. Science insists on empiricism and objectivity, "Believe only in what is provable." This is the great mantra in our secular times. The flat land has taken over our lives. But what good are eyes, unless we can see? What good is a nose unless we can smell? What good is a hand unless we can touch? What good is an ear unless we can hear? What good is a heart unless we can love? What good is a mind unless we can imagine? Our greatest gifts and assets are all invisible. They cannot be put under a microscope and measured. They are not objects which can be measured they belong to the spiritual realm. Though these gifts cannot be defined, yet they define us.