QUIET DAY AT LOYOLA today – though the cheerful birdsong all around me as I write is anything but quiet! Sometimes a different kind of noise can qualify as quiet though, can’t it? And my need for the quiet places in life becomes greater as the years pass. Nearly thirty years in parish ministry have made for a lot of noise of one kind or another. I yearn for time to process things nowadays – things, people, parish, politics, responsibilities …

Often I have thought I’d like to work as a Warden / Chaplain of a Retreat House. Perhaps some day I will. Today, though, it’s the song of a blackbird that is demanding my primary attention and, gratefully, I know that that’s all to the good.

Thanks be to God!