Spirituality
Tangling with threads of time
By Michelle Francl-Donnay For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. – Ecclesiastes 3:1 For most of this summer I have been working off the clock. Somewhere in early June I stopped wearing my watch unless I had an appointment to keep. Now it’s August and I can’t figure […]
Use the Psalms to pray with passion
By Michelle Francl-Donnay I cry aloud to God, cry to God to hear me. On the day of my distress I seek the Lord; by night my hands are raised unceasingly; I refuse to be consoled. – Ps. 77:2-3 I’m in the midst of a project that has gone viral. Last week I asked a […]
Seeing with ‘new eyes’
By Michelle Francl-Donnay I rejoiced when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem. – Ps. 122:1-2 The suitcases were hauled up from their basement resting places, while the kitchen door sprouted lists of chores that must be done, things […]
Warmly welcoming others
By Michelle Francl-Donnay For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome. – Mt. 25:35a It had been raining for the last 24 hours, and would rain for the next 48. It’s what you get when a typhoon […]
Stripped of words to find the Word
By Michelle Francl-Donnay In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. – Jn. 1:1 We had an hour at Tokyo Station to find lunch, pick up dinner to eat later, and the right platform for our train. It was not enough. After a 20-minute hike across the […]
A banked fire: Start the day with prayer
By Michelle Francl-Donnay The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness. – Lamentations 3:22-23 My mother despaired of me. While my brothers scarfed down bowls of Frosted Flakes doused in milk and toast slathered in strawberry jam, her oldest child […]
Finding courage to reverence a stranger
By Michelle Francl-Donnay “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” – Mt. 25:35-36 Market East Station at 10 p.m. is eerily empty. […]
Believing in the Holy Spirit
By Michelle Francl-Donnay In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. – Romans 8:26 I believe in the Holy Spirit. This is not an assertion I make by rote on […]
Brace yourself, prepare to pray
By Michelle Francl-Donnay My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. I will sing, I will praise your name. – Ps. 57:8 It was a scene right out of a movie about a jewel heist. A black-clad figure creeping into a darkened museum gallery. One wrong move and suddenly the place is ablaze […]
Laughing at marvels of God
By Michelle Francl-Donnay The Lord said to Abraham: “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?’ Is anything too marvelous for the Lord to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.” – Gen. […]