King David, You, Me and Idleness It isn’t as if King David opened his eyes that morning to ask, “What are the 3 most effective ways I can take this blessed God-Given-Life and invoke the worst conceivable miseries upon me and my beloved nation?” Or “How can I best take the sacred anointing I was […]
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Politics of the common good That phrase, “politics of the common good,” reads as naivete. In a recent post, I wrote that politics is the pathetic name we give to the art of governing. Our immersion in our “shock and awe news” entices us to judge, criticize, and offend Jesus by neglecting his command to
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Thinking of another early July: Gettysburg Michael Shaara’s magnificent historical novel, Killer Angels, is required reading at West Point Academy and should be required in all American colleges. Why? There are countless reasons I write this but primarily two. When we reflect on the extraordinary history of America, “We should kneel down in gratitude!” Secondly,
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Making an oratory of the heart… The phrase “oratory of the heart” is not common parlance. I first encountered it in Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God,. and had to stop and think about the word oratory: Oratory is defined first as eloquence in public speaking and second as a place of prayer.
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A Lost Lamb and The Good Shepherd I wrote the following piece almost ten years ago. When it suddenly popped up mid-last week, I read it, and the memories of that hike flooded back. I decided its content contains essential lessons for this past Sunday’s Feast of the Good Shepherd: The lone lamb suddenly appeared
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A joyous Lent? It isn’t something that can be understand easily. This past Wednesday, the liturgical churches left ordinary time to enter forty penitential days in the desert with Christ. Today’s Gospel reading returns to the Baptism of the Lord and the beginning of Jesus’ three-year journey to the Cross. The Gospel of Mark starkly
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Good afternoon, fellow missionaries! It’s been exactly ten years since my husband John and I met the founder of the Haitian organization, Hands Together. Quite honestly, I have an agenda. I’m sharing those first impressions today in hopes that you’ll consider supporting Fr. Tom and his extraordinary mission. But perhaps more importantly, follow his advice:
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Moderation: A forgotten legacy from President Eisenhower We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations….we yet realize that America’s leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the
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Salvador Dali 1958 Ascension of Jesus- courtesy phillip chiripop Where did Jesus go: Come Holy Spirit! I became a new creation that Thursday evening in early September at Saint Benedict’s Abbey. The journey had been arduous and long, but I’d finally found home. After receiving the sacraments necessary for full communion in the Catholic Church,
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Death, Hope, Heaven, What are we here for, anyway? In my pre-Catholic ‘pagan’ years, I worried about death. Mostly because I feared standing before a God I did not think I believed in and explaining why I had wasted knowledge, understanding, and time. After twenty years as a Catholic, I would like to think that
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