good and evil

The World: The Great Yes and the Great No.

The world: The Great Yes and the Great No It’s a cryptic but arresting phrase, isn’t it: The great yes and the great no? I tripped on it while searching for something online a couple of weeks ago. After listening twice to a twelve-year-old homily of Bishop Barron’s called—you guessed it—The Great Yes and the […]

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Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael: Essential Warriors?

Photo Courtesy Mont Saint Michel Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael The stunning image is of Mont Saint Michel Abbey in Normandy, France, takes me back to a journey there before my conversion. That trip comes to mind because after my friend and I climbed the 350 steps to enter into the Abbey, we’d no idea

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Don't Blame the Devil:

Don’t Blame the Devil: What Blame Me?

Don’t blame the devil Soon after my conversion to Catholic Christianity, I discovered Saint Teresa of Avila. And I fell in love with her. Upon examining that statement, I realize it’s not hyperbole, but truth. Why? Among countless reasons, at this writing, it’s Saint Teresa’s admonition against blaming the devil for my weakness, laziness, and

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Climate Change: The Activists are Both Right and Wrong

Climate Change: The Activists are both right and wrong The activists are right: our created world and everything in it is suffering and in danger. But the climate change activists are wholly wrong in their belief that ending fossil fuels, all carbon dioxide emissions, eating meat, or decreasing the population will fix us. No government,

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Little Great Friday: Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist

Little Great Friday… Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist… (Matthew 11: 11). Each year, on August 29th, the Christian liturgy celebrates the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist. Herod arrested John, “on account of Herodias,” his brother’s wife. The Baptizer publicly censured

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The Razor’s Edge of Forgiveness

The razor’s edge of forgiveness “Forgive your enemies. “ Since forgiveness was just as unnatural 2100 years ago as it is now, the Apostle Peter seeks to bind it. You will recall that Peter was a pious Jew and knew the Mosaic law. The law from Leviticus, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and in both

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thinking about Capernaum

Thinking About Capernaum: Woe Onto You

Thinking about Capernaum Capernaum was Jesus’ town. The ruins pictured above were the great synagogue where Our Lord preached. It’s here where five of the twelve apostles lived: Peter, Andrew, John, James, and Matthew. Jesus’ town was the site of numerous miracles, among them the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead and the healing

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God as mystery

God As Mystery: Desperate Need for Silence

God as mystery “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”  So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died:  ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they

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Doubt Isn’t the Opposite of Faith

Doubt Isn’t the Opposite of Faith Fear is. Father Eric Ritter’s comment, “Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; fear is,” remains in my mind days after I heard him preach the homily for Saint Matthew’s Tuesday 6 AM Mass. The Gospel passage for Tuesday was: As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.Suddenly

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thinking of another early July: Gettsburg

Thinking of Another Early July: Gettysburg

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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