(photo: Mississippi River shoreline, Julian Garcia-Delaney, Minnesota, 2025) Nature is a very accurate reflection of our mental state. Look once, and you don't see anything. Look again, and suddenly you see something there that you didn't see before. What changed? Today let's consider another one of the Admonitions of St. Francis of Assisi. As I … Continue reading The Way to Forgiveness: Quiet and Meditation
Minnesota
Keys to Forgiveness: Patience & Humility
(photo: Tom Delaney, Stearns County, Minnesota 2025) The colors and shapes of the natural world are a joy to behold. As much as nature is set up to perform amazing displays of splendorous color, we ourselves are set up to behold these displays and experience emotional responses of awe, wonder, and joy at them. It … Continue reading Keys to Forgiveness: Patience & Humility
Franciscan Wisdom for Forgiveness: Balance
(photo: Tom Delaney, Sherburne County, Minnesota, 2025) We had a little surprise in the daily parade of deer along the woodline when this young White-Tailed Deer (Ordocoileus virginianus) buck showed up. In Anishinaabemowin, the language of the indigenous Ojibwe people of our area, these deer are called waawaashkeshi. In the language of the indigenous Dakota … Continue reading Franciscan Wisdom for Forgiveness: Balance
Forgiveness Starts with Self-Awareness
(photo: Gnothi Sauton at Reichert-Haus in Ludwigshafen, Immanuel Giel, 2006) There is an old saying, and it's quite simple: "Know thyself." As short and simple as it is, in the (really) old days, it was understood to be such an important thing to do that it was carved into the rock at the Temple of … Continue reading Forgiveness Starts with Self-Awareness
Connecting with Nature Helps Forgiveness
(photo: Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, 2025) The Vatican News reports that Pope Leo XIV has announced a prayer intention for this month of September "for our relationship with all of creation." In his explanation available via video. Pope Leo XIV specifically recognizes the “the beauty of creation” as a revelation of God and “as the … Continue reading Connecting with Nature Helps Forgiveness
Mercy Makes Forgiveness
(photo: Pope Leo XIV and author Diane Foley, Vatican Media, 2025) I have a theory: Learning from experience is fundamentally human. We learn from our experiences, and what we learn changes the way we think, feel, and act -- sometimes a little, but sometimes in ways that transform us. When we are in community with … Continue reading Mercy Makes Forgiveness
Why is real forgiveness a process?
(photo: Artist's Conk, Tom Delaney, Sherburne County, Minnesota, 2025) The mixture of hardwood oaks and aspens along with softwood pines and junipers makes for a wide variety of mushrooms and fungi in our little corner of the oak savanna. I took a photo of this Artist's Conk (Ganoderma lobatum) in our woods and I'll be … Continue reading Why is real forgiveness a process?
Pray for Annunciation School
As news of the shooting this morning at Annunciation School in Minneapolis unfolds, we pray especially for the children and their mothers, knowing that God and angels are with them in this terrifying time. (The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898)
Fire & Forgiveness
(photo by Tom Delaney, Sherburne County, Minnesota, 2025) The days are turning cooler here in Central Minnesota, and the night chorus of crickets swells. Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purperea) is a one tow watch all summer long, and these days are no exception. Purple Prairie Clover is a native species or prairies in Minnesota, and … Continue reading Fire & Forgiveness
Happy Feast of St. Benedict!
Vision of Saint Benedict, Giovanni del Biondo (1356-1399 CE) We are lucky to have two Benedictine communities here in Central Minnesota: Saint John's Abbey and Saint Benedict's Monastery. Today, some words from one of the most celebrated Benedictine authors, Thomas Merton: God has left sin in the world in order that there may be forgiveness: … Continue reading Happy Feast of St. Benedict!
Live and Forgive 