If you are unhappy Do an online search of the most popular topics for blog posts and you’ll find happiness to be among the top ten. But that isn’t the way to conceive of happiness. We need to change our way of thinking about happiness by coming at it through the back door and talk […]
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The west ablaze-with wildflowers. The wildflowers in California are ablaze with wildflowers, not with wildfires but flowers. The blooms along the west coast are so intense they can be seen from space! But the long drought is also over in the nearby high desert of the Pinion mountains of northern Nevada. Around seven on Friday morning,
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Conclave is the best of Robert Harris’ novels, high praise because Harris is an excellent writer of historical fiction. Each of his books reveals the writer’s journalistic background: Rich in detail and imagery, Harris’ extensive research for each story is evident. Conclave is all of that but much more. This story is riveting, sympathetic and
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For converts like me, the story of the prodigal son evokes a tsunami of emotion: gratitude, relief, sorrow and recognition are only a few. But upon reflecting on the well-known parable that Jesus tells the complaining Pharisees and scribes, I began to think about the older brother with an entirely different lens. Rather than my
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Walls of our unbelief: Edith Stein It was 1918. The young intellectual was nervous about her upcoming visit to Anne, the widow of her good friend, Adolf Reinach, killed at the 1917 Battle of Flanders.How could she offer comfort?What could she say?Reinach was a fellow scholar at the University of Freiburg, an assistant to the
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The ambiguity of talent We use the word talent to connote skill or expertise. Often, we mean an individual with intrinsic aptitudes toward a thing. Whether it be athletics or mathematics, it’s someone with unusual ability. Organizational recruiters look for specific aptitudes in potential employees. We perceive these capacities as our own, as our property
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The Young Messiah takes a year out of the life of Christ- a seven-year- old Jesus bar Joseph. If you have read Anne Rice’s Jesus Christ the Lord – Out of Egypt, you’ll soon recognize this intriguing, beautifully scripted, filmed and acted story of the God-child. If not, you may choose to seek out this most
Saint Paul to the Galations: Also Us “You stupid, senseless Galations!” One of the last Divine Office readings before Ash Wednesday is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galations. He minces no words and we can practically see the spittle collecting at the sides of his mouth as we read the Apostle’s exhortations. St Paul,
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The end of work Ever since the Industrial Revolution, futurists have been forecasting the end of work. Recently, journalist Derek Thompson wrote in The Atlantic Monthly about the imminence of widespread joblessness. He used the perspective of Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown boasted one of the more prosperous economies in the country, mostly due to the flourishing
Number 12 Brady A friend from church gave me Brady’s Pro Ball 2014 shirt several weeks ago. The shirt sits in proud display in our hallway. It is brought out when a friend with an interest in football visits. Or sometimes those with no interest. Joe, giver of the shirt, joined us for one of