My friend just came back from a silent retreat.  When I spoke to him, he said it was a great experience, although, I confess, lots of jokes were running through my head.  I mean, how would you know that people didn’t hate the silence?  No one could say...

“And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben,* for she said, “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me” In today’s reading in Genesis (ch. 29), we have the story of the birth of Jacob’s first four sons and...