Patrick T. Reardon

Artists of the past, and those to come, find a way to say what couldn't otherwise be said. "And that seems saintly to me," writes Patrick Reardon.

We tend to think of God as transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent — as larger and wider and deeper than the universe and everything in it. Yet with Elijah, God is a still small voice, a whisper of gentleness. 

Soul Seeing: Jesus was a human being who had to learn about life — and the learning didn't stop in childhood. Even as an adult, he maintained this openness, this profound curiosity.

Soul Seeing: The world has let us know it doesn't need us anymore. We often feel like aging dots of flesh clinging to the tiny rock of earth hurtling past stars and whole galaxies in an edgeless universe.

Soul Seeing: Every parish is filled with angels, people who are holy and touch those around them. When we gather in the church or in the parish hall or on the sidewalk outside, each soul is there, each soul is present in some way, each soul touches others in some way.

Soul Seeing: Why is it that, for so long, I've been captivated by a 1986 Van Morrison song and by a scene in the 1993 movie "Little Buddha"? Both works urge me to be comfortable in my place in God's fabric.

Soul Seeing: I participate twice a week in a ritual that, for me, is a sacrament — my 50-minute sessions of psychotherapy. I'm there. My therapist is there. Also there is God and God's grace.

Soul Seeing: Either I believe that God is here with me in these darkest moments — or desolation, all is desolation.

Soul Seeing: All of this beauty, whether the mud of Jesus' spit or the clouds of incense or the Sistine Chapel, all of these are outward signs, instituted by God, to give grace. We can be one of those outward signs.

Book Review: While not religious in an institutional sense, this book contains the spiritual message that life is richer when you recognize that death is coming. That death is a part of living — indeed, a key component of living — and, as such, part of God's creation.

Soul Seeing: Playing basketball at 69 is not easy on one's pride. Yet, two or three times a week, I'm out on the court with one set of friends or another, sweating, straining and exerting myself. Why? I think it has to do with that "grace and clumsy harmony."

Soul Seeing: Things happen in life, good and bad. Good things happen to bad people. Bad things happen to good people. Life isn't fair as anyone knows who has come to the realization, as humans must, that we are born to die. You and I live under a death sentence.