To the families in Shobak who welcomed me, the cab drivers in Amman who made me smile, the elderly neighbors who invited me for tea, the sisters who taught me how to dance, the Gazan mothers who weep for their children, the Syrian women who place flowers at graves, the Iraqis who die protecting their …
Fr. Frans, an icon
I painted his icon of Fr. Frans van der Lugt, in the hopes of promoting awareness about his life and death.
Diet Advice from the Caliph
The walls of the priest’s office were lined with black-and-white photographs of his father donning a checkered Jordanian kufiyyeh and his little sister wearing her white First Communion dress. Newer pictures of Jordan’s king, Abdullah II, Roman Catholic bishops of Jordan, and Pope John Paul II, flanked the family shots. But the most striking images …
Poem: “Bethel”
In short, the message of this poem is an elaboration of Jacob's exclamation in Genesis 28:16: “Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it.” Though I don’t often realize it, God is always with me.
More in Heaven: Wisdom from Julian of Norwich
Julian’s revelations remind us that union with God will not only occur at the end of time, when we are perfectly unified and meet him “face to face.” They also tell us that we can get a taste of that eventual full communion, right here, and right now.
JORDAN DENARI DUFFNER 