If a shepherd had a particular “wild” or “wondering” sheep, one that never stayed put with the flock, the shepherd would grab one of its hind legs in both hands, and…
If a shepherd had a particular “wild” or “wondering” sheep, one that never stayed put with the flock, the shepherd would grab one of its hind legs in both hands, and…
I dreamed I had an interview with God. “So you would like to interview me?” God asked. “If you have the time,” I said. God smiled. “My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?” “What surprises you most about humankind?” God answered… “That they get bored with childhood, they rush […]
One particular day, Sally walked into her religion class. She knew it was going to be a fun day because it was Mr. Smith’s class. Mr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. Mr. Smith told the students to […]
Fr. Scott was filling in for line duty during lunch the other day. Line duty is basically standing around outside the door to the cafeteria making sure that students do not crowd the hallway, block traffic, and prevent others from cutting in line. He likes to do line duty because it gives him a chance […]
Yesterday, I posted the story “The Room”. Thanks again to Neely for the link to a short film adaptation of the story. At the end of the film, Joshua Harris, the author of the story, makes some very important comments: Do you see God’s love for you? It doesn’t matter who you are or what […]
In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endless in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was…
The following story is making the email circuit. I like it, even though it is a little sentimental. It has a good message. A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his backpack with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack […]
Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed. — St. Teresa of Avila In the last three days, in three different situations with three different people, I asked each if they prayed, or at least prayed often. I have much love and respect for each of these persons. I am […]
Anthony de Mello tells the following story in the forward of his book, Awareness: A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking […]
Fr. Ken told this parable during last week’s homily on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: There was a man standing beside a river and saw a scorpion floating on top of the water, helpless in the river current. The man reached out to save the scorpion and was stung. He instinctively reacted by jerking […]
Kallistos Ware, Desert Fathers, parable, story, sin, silence
Fr. Boyer told this story about a time he was sitting on an airplane while it was loading passengers. A young man sat down next to him and noticed his cleric collar. The young man asked Father, “Are you saved?” Father replied, “Well, I would prefer to think that I am being saved.” The young […]
Karl at St. Stephen’s Musings asked me five interview type questions. You are all invited to participate. (See directions at the end of the post.) 1) You have written some short fiction in the past. Do you have other stories in the works? Yes, I have been working on a story based on an incident […]
Some people just won’t let you help them. At noon today, my teenage daughter and I were driving down the interstate. It was along a semi-suburban/rural area of the interstate, just at the eastern edge of Oklahoma City. There was this lady, walking with the flow of traffic on the inside of the highway near […]
On the last day of class, one of my seniors disrespected me in a major way. I have seen her show disrespect toward other teachers and students over the last two years, but the frequency has increased during the last month or so. On occasion, she would do little things to me too. But this […]