Faith & Spirituality
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How Do We Pray?
There are moments, especially in a group setting, when prayer begins with a hesitation that is difficult to explain. Someone is asked to pray, or perhaps volunteers to do so, and in that instant, something shifts. What was meant to be a simple turning toward God becomes layered with awareness. Words must be chosen. Tone…
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A Day of Stations
Every year during Holy Week, we find ourselves returning to a familiar path. Not necessarily the same roads or the same churches, but the same intention that gently gathers us again. The practice of Visita Iglesia has become part of our shared rhythm, something that Lalaine, my wife, Ezra, one of our close friends, and…
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Faith After Abundance
There was a time when faith felt closely tied to energy. Church was not only a place of worship, but also a place of uplift. People gathered not just to pray, but to be encouraged, to be strengthened, and to be reminded that life could move forward with confidence. Sermons often carried a tone of…
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We Were Never the Victim
My wife and I stood among the faithful, palms in our hands, attending the Mass of Palm Sunday. There is a particular beauty in this moment. The gestures are simple, the movement is shared, and the words are familiar. It draws us in without resistance, allowing us to participate almost naturally in something sacred. At…
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Returning Without Presence
I recently found myself attending a high school reunion, though not in the way such gatherings are usually experienced. The reunion took place in Nara, Japan, my hometown, while my life has since taken me overseas. In that sense, I was absent. Under ordinary circumstances, that absence would have meant a complete disconnection from the…
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The Simplicity That We Resist
In many spiritual traditions, especially within Christian prayer, one often hears the language of “emptying ourselves.” The phrase appears simple, yet it carries a depth that can easily be misunderstood. To empty oneself before God does not mean neglecting oneself or diminishing one’s humanity. It does not mean becoming timid, passive, or indifferent to the…
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Faith Across Denominational Lines
I recently exchanged messages with a member of the church I used to attend in my homeland. I have been living abroad for decades now, and we have not met face to face during that time. After many years, we had the chance to reconnect online. Our shared background in the same mainline Protestant congregation…
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When Faith Resists Grace
Some stories conclude neatly. The culprit is named, motives are clarified, and order is restored. Others resist that closure. They resolve the plot but leave something unsettled, as if the true subject was never the crime itself. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery belongs to the latter kind. While it presents itself as…
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Awakening Without Privilege
In recent years, stories of awakening have circulated widely. Near death experiences, sudden conversions, spiritual breakthroughs, and moments of existential rupture appear in books, interviews, podcasts, and quiet conversations between friends. These accounts often arrive with a shared promise. Something decisive happened. Life was reordered. Fear loosened its grip. Meaning became vivid. It is not…
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Where Medicine Ends and Love Continues
The past month did not feel like a normal stretch of days. It did not move forward in a straight line. It thickened. Time became dense. A single week could hold what usually belongs to a season. Hospital rooms, late-night conversations, prayers, phone calls, wakes, processions, and quiet moments at home blended into a single…
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When the Furniture of Scripture Is Moved
For most Christians, the Bible does not feel like a document that is still being edited. It feels settled, received, and given. Its words, its order, and even its physical layout are part of how faith is learned, remembered, and lived. That is why changes that appear technical to scholars can feel deeply personal to…
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The Gift of the Final Days
My mother-in-law suffered a stroke and fractured her hip in December last year. She was hospitalized on December 22, 2025. From that day onward, her life became a sequence of tests, procedures, scans, and interventions. I understand why. Modern medicine is built on a noble mission: to do everything possible, for as long as possible.…