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Summer at Seven
To approach the day as if the world depended on me to save it. To climb a tree with the intensity of someone on a mission. To ride my bike with a sense of great purpose and determination. And to run from here to there as if I were pursuing the evilest villain alive. Every day was a great adventure. It was an opportunity to live out the saga and storyline that I had imagined in my head. Every day was about being a seven-year-old boy created for something larger than himself. This was my summer at seven years old in Clifton Park, New York. I often fondly remember the…
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U.S.A. vs. Germany
Taking the train through the countryside of Germany brought up some nostalgic emotions as it was the first time in my life that I was in the country of my grandfather’s origin. It was the first time physically being in touch with a part of me that I rarely think about. As an American, most of my generation are “Mutts.” That is, we are a mix of many nationalities. So, although I am 75% Irish and only 25% German, my last name, Illig, is German. I am proud to say that it originates from Germany. Having said that, I am an American citizen. And I am proud and not ashamed…
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The Paradox of the Road
It is within the journey that I find myselfIt is within the silence that I speak the language of peaceIt is within becoming a child that I have the capacity to be an adultIt is within the view from my knees that I see clearlyIt is within death that I find lifeIt is within the great unknown that I find the presentIt is within this life that I find eternal Love.
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My Search for Communion
(Over the course of 2 months living in Switzerland, I have attended Mass in 4 different languages. Here are some thoughts thus far…) What does it mean to be in communion with others? What does it mean to be in communion with myself? What does it mean to be in communion with God? The search for these answers drives my thoughts. The search for these answers drives my actions. The search for these answers drives my soul. And with every attempt to satisfy my desire for communion, I find myself back in the pews of church. I find myself back in a community with those who speak a different language than me yet…
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The Universal Language of Sports
Sports are, without a doubt, an activity that brings the most profound emotions, feelings, and ways of being to the surface. They are primal activities that uncover human beings’ universal language. One of the best experiences of my life was undoubtedly walking into a professional baseball locker room at 17 years old, one of about 10 Americans on a team of 35. This experience shaped me in ways I am still unpacking today. It was the experience of being a minority, of not understanding the language spoken around me, of feeling my teammates’ profound differences yet discovering a commonality with them on the most basic human level. The fundamental lesson…
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To Bless the Space Between
As we walked down to the train stop on Sunday morning, the clouds separated to allow the Bernese Alps to come into view. As I watched, I immediately thought of my Pastor from St. Ann in Phoenixville, PA, and his insight into being able to “Bless the Space Between” in our lives. I knew I had to find his insight this week from my notes, for the “space between” was becoming visible to me right there in my view. If only I could recognize the same “space between” with my wife and children every day. For this is my daily prayer… Here are some insights from Rev. John J. Newns’s…
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Celebrating Earth Day
Experiencing Earth Day last week in Switzerland was striking to me. There wasn’t much talk. There wasn’t much of a fuss. So much so that if it hadn’t been for my boy’s school and Facebook, I would have missed it completely. I say that not because I don’t care about the earth but because experiencing Earth Day in Switzerland is more of a daily way of life and less about something to be used for political power, making a point, or making a lot of money. There is something engrained in the Swiss culture that respects the environment and, therefore, respects your neighbor’s environment as much. It is not necessarily…
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The Great Adventure
Oh, the cravings of adventure. On one level, our family is exactly two months into our new adventure living in Switzerland. Individually, my two boys are in the midst of the “great adventure” of their lives. Living here is part of this “great adventure” as boys. There is undoubtedly something to be said about boys’ need for adventure. It is engrained within us. From infancy, boys seem to crave kicking rocks down the road, climbing trees, running instead of walking, and/or making anything into a weapon. “Men are often aggressive. They seem to have an inborn need to fight, to put themselves in conflict with the outer world in order to…
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Seeing the Beautiful
On the one hand, they say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” On the other hand, beauty is not as subjective as it seems. Maybe beauty is more about the ability to see or not. In other words, beauty is everywhere and in everything. My ability to recognize this in my life is somehow connected to joy. This makes me think then, what helps me to see? Switzerland is beautiful beyond words. The landscapes and mountains are indescribable—so much so that pictures do not do them justice. One result of witnessing this kind of beauty is that it captivates you, draws you in, and then sends you out…
