Christmas 2025
For the past 60 years, I have been sending out a Christmas message to as many people as I had addresses for. But now that I am almost 97 and have just moved into Assisted Living at Casa Celeste in Seminole, Florida, I am fighting the temptation to “fageddaboudit,” as they used to say in…
Keep readingAN ADVENT MEDITATION FOR DECEMBER 2025
Here is a beautiful piece borrowed from Mirabai Starr of the Center For Action and Contemplation: Saying Yes to Our Lives Mirabai Starr recounts how she came to say yes to God in her life as it is instead of how she imagined it should be:”All my life, I have been enamored of the God-intoxicated…
Keep readingThe Sermon on the Mount is About Life on Earth, not in Heaven
Today, Richard Rohr’s meditation stated succinctly and clearly an insight into spirituality that I have been pondering for fifty years, but have never been able to express as clearly as today’s meditation did. We were often taught that Jesus was talking about: “Blessed are the poor, the meek, those who suffer, those who grieve, etc.,…
Keep readingThe Cherokee Story of the Two Wolves Within Us
There’s an old Cherokee tale about two wolves, and I have been thinking about it a lot these days. The story goes something like this: One evening, an elderly Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside each of us. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us…
Keep readingThank you, Pope Francis
Saturday, April 26, 2025 will always be a banner day for Peggy and me. We recorded Francis’ Memorial Celebration on two different channels and watched them both when we woke up and were rewarded with an ancient city that still remains in so many ways the center of planet earth. The colors of the vestments,…
Keep readingIt is in Dying that we are Born to Eternal Life
This was a stunning Easter Celebration with the death of Michael Volpe, a beloved friend whom I met on my first Mission in 1956, not quite 70 years ago. He died on early Good Friday, and left us in mourning until early Easter Monday when Pope Francis joined Mike in eternal life. On TV this…
Keep readingYes, Love is Eternal
A month ago, I reached my 96th birthday, and I was surprised how interested I was in how much longer I have to live. For the last few years, I have been obsessed with preparing for death. I want my passage out of time to be smooth and comfortable for everybody concerned, especially for…
Keep readingAn Unhappy But Hopeful New Year 2025
Welcome to a very unhappy planet. I will be 96 in 2025 and this is the most unhappy world that I have experienced since World War II, 1941 – 1945. In truth, there were 2.3 billion human beings in 1941, and now we count 8 billion of us. Despite the hundred million or so who were…
Keep reading
Where Have You Gone, Freddy Weigel?
They don’t call this a funeral anymore. They call it a Memorial, or better still, a “Celebration of Life” I like that, but I would add “A Celebration of Death”, too. I think we love Jesus because He taught us how to live, but even more, He taught us how to die. Jesus taught us…
Keep readingD-Day | June 6, 1944 -2024
I was 15 years old on the original D-day, and like Pearl Harbor, and 9/11/2001, it made an indelible mark on my soul, like the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation made indelible marks on our souls. This morning I spent two hours watching the Presidents of the U.S.A. and France commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the…
Keep readingSomething went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Sal Umana 