Jonathan Ryan's Blog, page 13

Dark Devotional: To Fear God and Act Uprightly

“The Lord will bless His people with peace.” This is one option for the responsorial for Sunday’s readings. Peace. We have had anything but peace in our nation this week. An insurrectionist mob stormed the capitol building, hoping to find the vice president and members of Congress inside. They were fully armed with military gear […]

Welcome Back, Sick Pilgrims

From its inception, Sick Pilgrim was intended to reach Catholics and Catholics-in-exile on the margins. As Jessica Mesman said in her introductory post in 2015: “We wanted a space to write for ourselves and for those who are here in the church with us and those who are attracted to Catholicism but can’t find their […]

Things Keeping Us Going, New Year’s Edition

If there was ever a year to celebrate the ending of a year and the fresh start that January 1st implies, it was 2020. Of course, thanks to the relentless Covid-19 virus, so many of the big celebrations we typically share around the world just didn’t happen. There were no crowds in Times Square. Hogmany, […]

Dark Devotional: Mary, the Mother of God

  Mary, the Mother of God By Karl Persson I must begin with a confession:  I’m not good at dealing with Biblical passages that describe joy. It’s not because I disbelieve in the existence of joy or think it wrong to rejoice. Nor is it because I haven’t experienced joy myself. Rather, it’s because one […]

Things Keeping Us Going, April Edition

Were all experiencing this differently and have different access to resources, and I want to acknowledge that. Also, sometimes we may find light diversion helpful. Sometimes we may be overwhelmed and sit on the couch all evening staring into space. I support any and all activities that are getting you through this.   That said, []

Sonnet 73: Time, Friendship and Chronic Illness

That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west; Which by and by []

Things Keeping Us Going, March 2020

  If youre a long-time reader of Sick Pilgrim, youll know that we used to have a  column called Things Keeping Us Alive. TKUA was meant to name small joys places and times when we encountered unexpected grace.  It was meant to remind us that there is an abundance of things to feed our spirits []

Book Recommendation: Meditations on the Way of the Cross

  In these days of stay-at-home-orders and closed churches, many of us are looking for connection. We miss connection to other people, even the mere connection of a smile between strangers in a coffee shop. We miss connection to our spiritual communities as churches close to the public. Even a small prayer group among friends []

Stardust to Dust: Lent as a Search for the Marvelous and Sacred

On Ash Wednesday, to everyone’s surprise, especially mine, I went to the early morning mass at St. Paul’s up the street from me. It’s a quirky New England story of a church. In the 1800s, the British mill owner in the neighborhood did what all the other Brit mill owners of the time did—he built […]

Mental Illness and and the Darkness of Lent

As someone with depression and anxiety, it’s always with mixed emotions that I approach Lent–and this because the experience of darkness and desert and mourning are in some ways close to me all year round. Yes, in one sense, Lent can be a blessing, since it is when Christ and the whole church suddenly join […]