To my mind it’s the earliest images that most compellingly evoke the wonder and complexity of the human body. People were closer to God then, more aware of the divine plan. Death was a part of daily life, not hidden away and sanitized.
ANGELUS NEWS
KEEPING THE PATHS CLEAR

. “Battouflet’s chief concern was the vegetation on the ghostly paths. Cutting and thrusting impatiently, his stick kept open a vestige of the vineyard tracks which would otherwise have been overgrown and lost. It was his single self-imposed task.”
THE INNER LIFE OF AN LA STREET PAINTER

“I don’t pretend to be van Gogh. I’m a commercial artist. I’m one of a thousand. I do simple landscapes to support my family. I don’t do what I want to do; I do what the people who buy my paintings like me to do. If I paint the Manhattan Beach pier ten times, I’ll sell all of them. If I paint the Virgin Mary, I don’t sell one.”
I LIVE NOW, NOT I

In one especially helpful passage, he proposes a new way of thinking about interpersonal conflict. “Well, if Christ is the focus, then everything is about Him and me and not about me and them!”
BACK TO WONDER: NOTES ON A MAGIC SHOW

I try to keep my eyes on his hands, which seem to be in sight at all times. Aha, he partly rolled up his sleeve! Wait, his palm was concealed for a second on an inner thigh! Is it possible for a human being to memorize the order of an entire deck of cards at a glance?
OPICA: AN INNOVATIVE PROGRAM FOR THOSE WITH MEMORY LOSS

Even when she could no longer get up and dance, or paint, Mary’s mother could still clap her hands. She loved the staff coming up and being kind. She even had a boyfriend in OPICA at one point.
What goes on in the soul of a person with dementia?
HALLOW: A PRAYER APP(!)

Here’s the fun part: depending on the content, for the voice you can choose Francis (Deliberate and Calm), Abby (Casual and Warm), or Jonathan (Heartfelt and Engaging) Roumie, who actually played Jesus in the TV series “The Chosen.”
To me, they all sound like vaguely sedated bots. But let’s face it, a “personality” is the last thing you want in a prayer companion.
ST. KATERI HABITATS AND PARKS

Saint Kateri Habitats and Parks is a ministry that “inspires Catholics and all people of good will to restore and manage homes, yards, gardens, parishes, schools, farms, parks, forests, rivers, and wetlands as healthy habitats for people and wildlife.”
CRUCIFY HIM!

Interestingly, the scapegoat had to be internally robust and strong, in order to be worthy to bear, or capable of bearing, the collective shadow. So often it’s the family “empath”—the most sensitive, giving and spiritually evolved; the most “different” in some way—who is scapegoated.
EVERYONE’S WAY OF THE CROSS

I once prayed the Stations at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on a shaded allée leading down to the ocean, got bitten by a tick, and contracted Lyme Disease.
LENTEN ALMSGIVING: A CATHOLIC TAKE ON MONEY

The first rule is that it’s okay to save, say, for a house or a child’s college education. But money should be a placeholder. What is our money holding a place for?
CARYLL HOUSELANDER’S GUILT

The book contains passages on the mental suffering, among others, of serial killer Peter Kürten (“The Monster of Düsseldorf”), Hans Christian Andersen, the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
LIVING THE GOSPEL AT DOWN HOME RANCH

When Kelly was around 4, they decided to look around and see what her life would be like as an adult. “And what we saw was horrible. We saw isolation.”
Finally, Jerry said, “Well I think we should just build our own place.”
FORTY DAYS IN THE DESERT OF A NEW CHILD

“The real bread is the sacrifice. Am I going to choose to help this child grow into who he or she is called to be? Am I open to growing into who I’m called to be because of them? That’s a hidden potency. The seeds are there. But the temptation is to take the shortcut, to give less than your full self.”