Surprised by Grace Now and then, I am surprised by grace; that phrase is used a lot by Christian writers weakly attempting to convey what Paul describes as living and active and sharper than a two edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit. Because it’s always much more than surprise…more …
The Woman With The Alabaster Jar And The Pharisee: Surprised by Grace Read More »
CS Lewis and Karl Rahner Most likely they never met. But the atheist turned Anglican Christian CS Lewis and the Roman Catholic Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner perceived their God in radically similar ways. Both men served as apologists for their faith causing more than a little consternation in the minds of more rule bound colleagues. …
Environmental Activist and Oxymoron There was a time, many years ago, when I was more of a radical environmental activist than most people I knew. And would not have conceived of a phrase like environmental activist and oxymoron in a single phrase. No more. The first part of the phrase carries the heft of religion. …
Defining freedom: The old/new lure of socialism On this Independence Day weekend, taking a few moments to consider defining freedom – for ourselves, our lives and our choices-seems fitting. I find this old/new lure of socialism antithetical to what we stand for in this country founded under God. But this is clearly not so for …
The Feast of the Ascension: Why Does it Matter? Last night, Fr. Paul began his homily during the vigil Mass for The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus, with that question. It’s a fantastic scene, isn’t it? This event witnessed by eleven ordinary people a couple of thousand years ago; fantastic to them then and …
Feast of the Ascension-Why Does It Matter To You And Me? Read More »
Your life is worth dying for… Exactly what are we worth? We usually think about our worth in dollars and cents. In terms of salaries, bonuses and raises. Each of us asks the question at least once, probably several times during the different phases of our lives: From the beginning of our careers and the …
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 on everyone I love, am obligated to?” Or “How can I best take the …
The Why and What of Advent 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 like …
Women of a certain age. Age is a funny thing. We can think that the phrase- and its associated number – means categories that limit, bound and define. Or we can mostly ignore it and live the life we choose, until we’re too ill to do so. In this twenty-first century, we read and hear …
We would need to be comatose to miss the fact of the upcoming elections: No one can say it better than Solzhenitsyn. The lure of socialism is growing. Understandable in a country, indeed a world, where it feels like only the very rich keep getting more. And those at the bottom of the heap less and …