Our rule of law and its slippery slope Most of us believe that our rule of law is sacred and that passing laws will fix recurring problems, address unwanted behavior, even establish a universal moral code. Examples of relatively recent legislative activity are texting while driving and sexual harassment. Note the wide definitional range between these […]
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“Forgiveness is the only thing that is new in the world, the one sure sign that there is a God.” One sure sign that there is a God: To some, those are words that can evoke a number of questions, confusion or even incomprehension. Reverend Ron Rolheiser wrote them in an article about Sister Helen Prejean’s
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Us versus them: the deliciousness of moral outrage Moral outrage: Is there anything more satisfying? More captivating…even delicious? “Can you believe what he said?” “Did you see what he wrote?” “Can you believe what she is wearing?” It’s endless, isn’t it? Even before the advent of social media- if any of us can recall back
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Photo CBN.com Paul the Apostle movie It’s sixty-seven A.D. Nero is burning Rome to the ground and blaming Paul the apostle of Tarsus for the destruction. And yet the new movie, Paul the Apostle, has the feel of the 21st century from the very first scene. Although imprisoned in his dungeon, the man called Paul
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“Love: I know nothing about it.” My statement was in reply to a priest who had asked if anything was wrong. Mass had ended and there I sat, alone in the big, cold New England Catholic Church. Staring at the quintessence of agony: the crucified Christ. Instead of coming to console with words or presence,
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The Shack: valuable lessons about opinion I read The Shack several years ago. And did not watch the movie until just a few days ago. Reactions to the movie, like the book, vary widely. There were those who complained about a God portrayed by an overweight black woman and others that the script was far
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In the physics of spirituality, it’s all paradox. St. Thomas Aquinas put down his pen, never to pick it up again, after four-thousand pages of his great work the Summa Theologica. He had reached question 99 when he quit. And when asked why, replied, “…‘All that I have written seems like so much straw compared to
“The prodigal son gospel reading is the perfect, ‘leticia’ for the fourth Sunday in Lent…leticia means joyous…we are happy because we’re now halfway through Lent,” the new Pastor, Fr. Jose Alberto Vasquez at St. Patrick’s Church in Arroyo Grande, California, claimed. Then he exclaimed that reconciliation is not about sin but forgiveness. Several times, he
Once Peter has been handed the keys to the Kingdom, Jesus harshly-even cruelly, rebukes him for his most understandable response to hearing Christ predict his own horrific suffering, rejection, humiliation and execution. Mark writes that Peter “took him aside and began to rebuke him.” We infer that Peter took Jesus away from the other disciples
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In these few remaining days of Advent, I read and re-read the words of St. Paul about the futility of sacrifice and oblation or offering to God. First, he quotes the words of Christ himself: You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation, prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices
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