Office of the Chaplain

Religious Life Newsletter: Volume 9, Spring 2006, Issue 2

In Edward Albee's one-act play, "The Zoo Story," the protagonist Jerry says, "Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly."

Things have a tendency to get out of whack in life. Relationships get bruised. We engage in behaviors that conflict with our own values. We pay too much attention to trivial things and too little to matters of substance. We grow spiritually flabby by neglecting the disciplines of prayer, meditation, charity and worship.

The three Abrahamic religions appoint seasons for believers to examine their lives and make the necessary amendments. For Judaism it is the High Holy Days; for Christianity, the current season of Lent; and Ramadan for Islam.

These are times of intensified introspection and deepened devotion. Their mood is sober and somber though never morbid or maudlin. They aim to bring life back into moral and spiritual alignment.

For as Jerry put it, "Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly."

Peace,
Mark Wm. Radecke
Chaplain Mark Radecke