Light

Born in 1947, I am an ordained minister and on line I am known as Light Heart. I created and have maintained for over ten years a web site titled: www.PracticeGodsPresence.com. It is my edition of Brother Lawrence's "The Practice of the Presence of God" (Light Heart Edition) that appears on the site. It is a translation, with refinements, from an Italian manuscript. I will always be grateful to the Carmelite Brother at the Vatican Library who sent me so much information which he first had to copy on index cards because we were still back in the early days of computers.  It was a time when no editions of Brother Lawrence's "The Practice of the Presence of God" could be found on-line and most book store editions were out of print. God has certainly enabled us to come a long way since then.

I also authored the series of little books called "Reflections on Practicing God's Presence", synthesized the music on the www.PracticeGodsPresence.com site and edited an edition of "The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John".

Within the past year I have finally been diagnosed with MS, an illness from which I have greatly suffered for over fourteen years. A tough diagnosis - yes; but such a relief to be able to put a name to all the symptoms (I prefer to use the word 'features') I have struggled with for so long. I have the kind of MS that is called 'remitting-relapsing' and I am in remission right now and have begun a medication therapy that helps prolong the time between relapses and deters further damage to the central nervous system. And God has given me a new cause. We must find a cure for MS.

While I mentioned the suffering of the past fourteen years, I must also mention the gratitude I have for my time with Our Father and practicing the presence of God. While my illness colored much of these past years, my relationship with God and engaging in constant conversation with Him is something I never could have imagined for myself. He has many ways of drawing us to Him. Sickness is often one of those ways. And it is in recognizing this that we see how our illnesses are turned into blessings. And in that, and so many other ways, God has lavished His blessings on me. I gladly share those blessings in whatever way He directs me.

Where I grew up

West Seneca, NY

Places I've lived

Philadelphia, PA; Syracuse, NY; Albuquerque, NM