It’s advent: don’t waste these precious days! Quietly competing with the banal and boring commercialism of Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays extended sales is another invitation. But it cannot be heard outside in the streets or while listening to CNN. Instead we must silent all the shouts of the marketplace to listen to another voice…more …
Why reason is required for faith Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come …
Lessons in stupidity from King Herod Unfortunately, some of us just get old without losing the stupidity of youth. Like lessons in stupidity from King Herod. Each August 29th, the Christian liturgy memorializes the beheading of John the Baptist. It’s one of the few Gospel readings that don’t include Jesus– and contains the perfect recipe …
Love: how extrordinarily wrong we are about it. A few years ago, I wrote a piece that recalled an event not long after I converted to Catholic Christianity from decades of mostly atheism. Alone in the church after Mass I sat transfixed by the crucifix. Mesmerized by this ginormous quintessence of agony stretched over the …
On reparations, policy and guilt “This is nuts,” I said to John after reading that New York was paying reparations to black Americans “affected by slavery”and that black lives matter protesters had won 13 million–a little under 10,000 per person–in a class action law suit against the city. “It’s not nuts,” my husband said, “It’s guilt. But misplaced …
Wonder: Our only fitting attitude In the era of instant everythng, have we lost our capacity for awe? With too much time, food and vast varieties of entertainment a finger tap away, dark and dangerous can look exciting and adventurous. And boredom can drive the more vulnerable among us to drug induced highs. With another …
The rosary of Our Lady was a favored book of two popes. Therefore I ordered it and put away for future reading. And forgot about it. Until this week. This week where Monday was the Feast of Our Lady Mother of the Church and Wednesday, the Feast of the Visitation. Isn’t it cool when forgotten books leap into our …
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 ten-year-old homily of Bishop Barron’s called—you guessed it—The Great Yes and the …
In praise of inequality Title grab your attention? Good. Because the notion of universal equality is irrational and foolish. Perhaps even sinful if done against God’s Law. In praise of inequality!! Take just a moment and look about God’s creatures and creation: the massive inequality of it. A hike in the woods or the mountains …
The use and misuse of power. When we see a phrase like this, we think of powerful persons, institutions or some kind of disaster, don’t we? The use and misuse of power connotes vastness. Someone Huge! Something colossal! We sure don’t think of ourselves—our reason, will or our intellect as method for the use and …