Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 794 C.E. The grieving girl tells her story. “The Christmas bells rang just then, same as when he was born that night when them nuns called me “Mary.” That baby were then, warm and wide-eyed, wiggling and wriggling alive; such a sweet babe he were. But then, the bells ring andContinue reading “#76.4 Thursday, January 8, 2026”
Tag Archives: #grief
#76.3 Wednesday, January 7, 2026
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 794 C.E. The young woman slipped out of the chains and she could have leapt from the tower to her certain death, but apparently, she chose to run toward the river. I’m following the tracks in the snow. The rising sun flushes the sky behind me in the fresh light of aContinue reading “#76.3 Wednesday, January 7, 2026”
#76.1 Thursday, January 1, 2026
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 794 C.E. Is this a magical time of year because of the particular songs and stories? I don’t think the season that Christians call the Christ Mass is sacred simply by edict or calendar. Now is when the sun begins a new light overtaking old darkness. There is no papal edict toContinue reading “#76.1 Thursday, January 1, 2026”
#75.14 Weds., December 31, 2025
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 793 C.E. The Reverend Mother, asks me how I know this woman I brought here to them. “The guards rescued her from the sea and I went down to help them but I don’t know her.” “We know her here. Last winter she came to us in labor and theContinue reading “#75.14 Weds., December 31, 2025”
#71.2, Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Visiting Tours This journey, visiting the bones of my loved ones along my way, is really about finding the spiritual life and life again of those I once shared bread with. It is the joyful side of life — the weedy overgrown vines of remembrance. Dear God, thank you for thisContinue reading “#71.2, Wednesday, August 6, 2025”
#71.1, Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Visiting Metz Before I leave these hills and ride off on that journey to Tours, I take this day to follow the familiar creek and visit the hill that was once my family home. Mostly the stones that marked the fields are scattered now, and the house is inContinue reading “#71.1, Tuesday, August 5, 2025”
#70.11, Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Lindisfarne Monastery Bishop Higbald prepares to bless a new abbot chosen from among these monks. A stranger here would assume I am a monk, but of course, all here know I only wear a borrowed robe so, I simply observe. I see that the bishop has the full administrativeContinue reading “#70.11, Wednesday, July 23, 2025”
#70.4, Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Lindisfarne Monastery On this terrible day Brother Ealdwin and I have been burying the dead left in the wake of the Viking raid. There are more empty cells where monks lived, than are the number of bodies we buried. Apparently, more monks than just Brother Ealdwin escaped death, but theyContinue reading “#70.4, Tuesday, July 8, 2025”
#70.2, Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Lindisfarne Monastery Brother Ealdwin finds me digging graves in this field. He has with him some garments for wrapping the bodies. And he tells me he walked the width of the island from one shore to the other shore and found two more bodies by the water. One is BrotherContinue reading “#70.2, Wednesday, July 2, 2025”
#70.1, Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Lindisfarne Monastery The Viking raid on Lindisfarne was swift and brutal. I was a slave waiting with the ships and saw nothing of it but their return to the beach with the loot. Brother Ealdwin, watched from a slit in the tower door and saw it happen. The VikingContinue reading “#70.1, Tuesday, July 1, 2025”
Lazarus Ink 