None of the damned was ever lost because his sin was too great, but because his trust was too small! — Blessed Fr. Francis Seelos I heard this quote on a talk radio show today. It says two things to me: No sin is too big for God to forgive. Let that sink deep into […]
My oldest child, a senior at the high school where I teach, sent me an email this afternoon asking me if she could get a bird, this bird in particular: My first reaction was that the photo was a fake. But no, it is a real bird (although this one is a little more plump […]
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: “I don’t believe that God exists.” […]
Steve at Catholicism, Spirituality & Holiness posted the following quote: “Unhappy the land that has no heroes,” says a character in a Bertolt Brecht play. “No,” replies another. “Unhappy the land that needs heroes.” It’s time to bring management and leadership back down to earth. — Henry Mintzberg, Harvard Business Review, Nov 2004 Now, I am […]
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To expose your feeling is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to […]
Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” — Acts 20:35 When material gifts are shared, they are divided and diminish. That is why people are selfish—if I share with you, then there will be less for me. For most things, this is an illusion for us living in an overly abundant […]
Time for some new colors for the ol’ weblog…
Yesterday morning, I was driving westward into the city to go to work. The fresh morning blue sky and the golden colors of the sunrise behind me looked gorgeous in my rear view mirror. At one point, as the bend in the road turned slightly, the reflection of the sun moved directly into the middle […]
In last night’s episode of Joan of Arcadia called “Friday Night”, her troubled friend Judith teaches Joan how to juggle. Near the end of the show after a very emotional scene, God asks Joan a metaphorical riddle: God: Did you ever hear the riddle about the man, his boxes, and the bridge? A man had […]
There are two days in the week upon which and about which I never worry—two carefree days kept sacredly free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday. Yesterday, with its cares and frets and pains and aches, all its faults, its mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond my recall. It was […]
A recent quote from a Bruderhof’s Daily Dig got me to thinking about indifference: I think the greatest source of danger in this world is indifference. I have always believed that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The opposite of life is not death, but indifference. The opposite of peace is not […]
Most people are familiar with the story about the footprints in the sand. Here’s a different set of footprints… Now imagine you and the Lord walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord’s footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your prints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, […]
This week’s Christian Carnival will be hosted here at CowPi Journal. Last week’s was at ChristWeb. To enter is simple. First, your post should be of a Christian nature, but this does not exclude posts that are political (or otherwise) in nature, as long as it is from a Christian point of view. Second, please […]
Welcome to this week’s Christian Carnival (#45), an eclectic collection of submitted writings from Christian weblogs. The following 37 articles are loosely organized around the idea that there are three dimensions to spirituality: vertical, horizontal or outward, and inward. Each of these dimensions are illustrated in the following quote: In the evening of our life, […]
Loving God, Amid all the troubling news of the world, thank you for the good news of the Gospel. Amid the fear of foreigners, thank you for helping us welcome strangers. In the hectic race for wealth, thank you for opening us to the joys […]
Yesterday evening, we were visiting the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. A memory of someone special reminded me to take a picture of this sunset. My dad and his wife came in for Thanksgiving. We always seem to take visitors from out of town to the Memorial. As they walked around and as my kids went […]
God said to Joan, “It’s not about the answers; it’s about asking the right questions.” — From the TV show, Joan of Arcadia A dear friend of mine asked me a simple question the other day. Because of its simplicity, the question could have easily been discarded with a noncommittal kind of reply. No, I […]