Pause+Pray

Reflect Making music is one of the most fundamental human acts. It can also be one of the most sacred, as St. Augustine knew: “Singing is praying twice.”  Whether you’re making it or simply appreciating it, good music—of any genre—can build ...

Reflect “If in bed, I say: When shall I arise? then the night drags on; I am filled withrestlessness until the dawn.” –Job 7:4 Have you ever felt that terrible feeling of being unable to sleep? The house settles down, lights ...

Reflect As a woodworker, I can ruin hours of meticulous effort in a single moment of inattention.  Whether it’s a work of art, a relationship, the bonds of social trust—destroying something is almost always easier and quicker than creating it. Forget ...

Reflect “Then He told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart” (Luke 18:1). In this parable that Jesus tells we encounter two figures: a dishonest judge, and an importunate widow, a widow so desperate ...

Reflect The great gift of craftsmanship is the ability to use your hard-won skill to bring something tangible, beautiful, and lasting into the world. Well-made things, shaped by human hands, connect us to the blessedly real material world and provide an ...

Reflect Because Catholicism is a sacramental, incarnated religion, “stuff” matters—our bodies, our surroundings and landscapes, the physical objects we encounter on a daily basis. All of these can reveal something of God and can be powerful ways to anchor and support ...