Seek justice; give mercy.
Seek justice; give mercy.
Is God in Hell? The modern explanation likes to say that Hell is the absence of God. But can such a place exist? The very existence of reality is grounded in God. Being or existence itself is in and of God. God is existence. All is within God. In otherwords, our existence is not independent […]
To paraphrase Peter John Cameron, O.P. in “Lent and Reality”: Salvation is an escape from our own inability. In our darkness, the incomparable capacity of our being will settle for nothing less than the embrace of the Infinite. Like nothing else, our helplessness moves us to cry out for that embrace in confidence and trust. […]
Heard this line in the movie, As Good As It Gets: Waiting gives the devil time. Waiting also gives God time.
Part of me feels heavy with anticipation of Good Friday. The Passion always makes me hang my spiritual head low. All is His pain and suffering and loneliness. Part of me feels light and giddy with anticipation for Easter. The Easter Vigil Mass is my favorite Mass of the whole year. The joy is hard […]
An haiku of hope: Made is the promise: all lost things are someday found, if they want to be.
To do something small, it is very difficult to have much meaning.
On the thin border between faith and doubt walks Christ, calling all to trust.
Slow is patience taught; Waiting teaches non-doing; Instilled is wisdom.
Butterfly flutters, A flower basks in the sun, Contact charges life.
Will Americans decide to give up their freedom for “feeling” safe and secure? At the beginning of the 20th century, the world was fearful that democracy would be extinguished. At the beginning of the 21st century, democracy appears to be flourishing in many parts of the world. Will democracy once again be in danger at […]
Father, have mercy on those souls who died in the shootings at Virginia Tech yesterday. Please bless the survivors, family, and friends who are left behind. May this tragedy be transformed in your Paschal Mystery from death to life, loss to gain, darkness to light. Through your Son, we pray.
From today’s reading, Jesus says to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) This is one of my favorite passages. It describes […]
The word sacrifice tends to carry a negative feel to it when stressing the idea of giving up something. But if I look beyond this negative, there is also an implied sense of hope, that is, in my giving up something, someone else gains. That is an act of love. I can view sacrifice as […]
We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity. On this 12th aniversary, we remember the 168 victims (149 adults and 19 children), the survivors (30 children were orphaned), and […]
Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance. — G.K. Chesterton
In every experience of true listening, especially to God but also to another person, there is a mysterious moment in which the one who listens steps out from a fortress of self-concern and dwells silently in the truth of the one who speaks. — John S. Mogabgab
I ran across some Latin phrases the other day. This one struck me most applicable to living a spiritual life. In silvam ne ligna feras. (Don’t carry logs into the forest.) — Horace In other words, God will provide. The energy you need to love others and God will be given when you need it. […]
O Gracious, All-Holy God, give us Wisdom to perceive You, Diligence to seek You, Patience to wait for You, Eyes to behold You, A heart to meditate upon You, And a life to proclaim You; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — Saint Benedict
Whenever you think God has shown you other people’s faults, take care; your own judgment may well be at fault. Say nothing. And if you do attribute any vice to another person, immediately and humbly look for it in yourself also. Should the the other person really possess that vice, he will correct himself so […]
Ran across a favorite old song from the early 90s by Gloria Estefan called ‘Don’t Wanna Lose You Now’. The haunting melancholy of her beautiful voice has a deep-seated sense of hope that cuts through to my heart. Upon a second playback, a moment of grace pierced my heart—the words are Jesus’s. It is just […]