Get Behind Me
Once again (twice? thrice? who knows?), I have come across the statement, “Get behind me, Satan.” It was there the night before last when I opened the pages of a notebook. “Get behind me, Satan”: those are the words Jesus…
What Is Shame Good For?
If you want to break a pattern, respond differently. Such a simple statement. I would call it deceptively simple, and by that I mean more easily said than done. In fact, I would contend that, although responding differently is essential,…
Of Men and Misunderstanding
To Share or Not to Share Two days ago, I began thinking in earnest about the balance between silence and expression. I am coming to understand how essential It is to express oneself and to be free to express oneself,…
The Mystical Boat
“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your…
Know It All
The Volume Library. God love you, Dad. When you signed on the dotted line for that scam, you were trying to do the right thing. Your blood sugar may have been on the way down and you just wanted your…
Time for Hope
Jesus has redeemed the time. I’d not understood this until recently. I thought that we (each of us Christians) were called to redeem the time. Where did I come up with such a notion? Well, here and there, from this…
Who Do You Serve?
Father Anthony Giambrone, O.P. wrote a Magnificat essay about Peter’s shadow, which just so happened to heal those thronging about him after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Our monthly guide through the more whimsical elements of the Bible acknowledges folklore motifs…
When You’re a Stranger
Where did I come from and who am I? Do typical people expend much time on these questions, or is it just me and a handful of other narcissists? I actually am genuinely interested in those big questions, perhaps, most…
This Milky Way of Souls
I have been reading The Road to Vatican II by Maureen Sullivan, OP, in two ways these past few weeks. Sister Maureen was one of my professors in college, and I’m glad I went ahead and bought this book, as…
No, One Size Doesn’t Cut It
I like the concept of subsidiarity. An early explanation for the idea can be found in The Old Testament. In the 18th chapter of Exodus, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, shows up in the wilderness and observes how Moses interacts with the…
An Effort So Religious
Today’s Gospel reading is the “Render unto Caesar” one, a blog post from Father Stephen Freeman makes a distinction between the active life and the contemplative life, and the passage I turn to in one of my reading journals is…
Paint and Pixel Notions
Thoughts about art cavort in my mind with all the other stuff that gets crammed into my cranium each day. Two days ago, those paint-and-pixel notions got more articulated than is often the case, as evidenced in the journal entry…
