What would it look like if we lived like we are children of God? Wouldn’t everything look different? Our culture, relationships, even our politics? Each week, I do at least one interview about my latest novel, Plausible Liars. There is a commonality among the interviewers’ questions about the unusual title: my explanation of its origin […]
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Language: not so subtle pervisions One of the last classes I took to satisfy the number of courses needed for my undergraduate major in English was Linguistics. Taught by the head of the English department in the small college, it was, by far, one of the tougher courses for me. Not because the material was
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If you are angry… Take a look at his face, a close look at pure, undiluted rage and fury. Although it’s tempting to feel superior and judgmental at such complete loss of self-control, I can’t. I’ve been there, precisely where that enraged man is. And it seems as if many of our fellow citizens live
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Religion begins with experience Religion does not start out with the notion of God. It starts with a personal experience, the overwhelming experience of ultimate belonging. Religion of the Heart Two pictures side by side in one frame hang on the wall of our Texas home. They reveal two views of a snowy cross-country skiing mountain
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STOP In The Name Of GOD: WHY? Only after my read of Charlie Kirk’s last book of that name, do I fully grasp the Sunday commandment and why I vow to abstain from unnecessary work or cause others to work on the Lord’s Day. So when God delivers Israel and gives them the Sabbath, He
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Giving- Do you still not understand? Tuesday’s Gospel, the day before Lent began, functioned as a bellwether for these forty days of Lent. It’s so for two reasons: a meditation and a homily. Tuesday’s Gospel reading was Saint Mark: Mark 8:14-21 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with
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Emergency! Prayer, Paradox, and Matthew McConaughey “Who is your doctor?” The replies to my “I don’t have one” ranged from an incredulous, frustrated “Well, you’re sure going to have one now!” to “You remind me of my seventy-four-year-old Dad, he’s healthy as a horse and has never seen a doctor.” The absence of a doctor
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The empty sanctuary of ordinary time. The churches were glorious during this Christmas season. For more than twenty days, the poinsettias stayed vibrant, and outside Saint Matthew’s Church in San Antonio, the soaring tribute to the Triune God became, literally, a tower of light. Now, emptied of Christmas decorations, the empty sanctuaries are stark. The
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The shaking reality of Advent Amidst the Hallmark Christmas movies, red bows, tinsel, parties, Christmas music and ubiquitous political clamor, lurks a presence. A whisper deep in our hearts, in our psyches and in our souls. The phrase “the shaking reality of Advent” is not mine, but belongs to Jesuit Priest and martyr, Alfred Delp.
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Remember the wife of Lot El Greco’s painting soberly adorns the cover of this month’s Magnificat. The artist placed the Lord’s left hand upon the globe of the earth, while Jesus’ right hand is raised in a calculated gesture. What kept me mesmerized by this painting, though, was the light. The sole source of light
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