“We are userers whenever we make demands upon others as a return for our actions or gifts; whenever we say or subtly feel that we are owed something or by life itself.”
EXISTENTIAL CRISES
I CHOOSE ALL!
A well-known anecdote about St. Thérèse of Lisieux has it that, when offered a basket of lace and other trimmings as a girl and told she could choose one, exclaimed, “I CHOOSE ALL!” As an adult, she extrapolated on the concept and observed, “My God, I choose all! I don’t want to be a saint […]
G.K.CHESTERTON: I AM
Legend has it that around 1910, The Times posed the question to a selection of eminent writers and thinkers: “What’s Wong with the World?” “Dear Sirs,” G.K. Chesterton replied: “I am.”
BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: During COVID, I’ve been trying to spend more time in prayer. In particular, I’ve tried to devote fifteen minutes, each day for a week, to meditating on a particular Gospel passage. The first week the Parable of the Rich Young Man [Matthew 19:16-22] bubbled up from […]
TWO FAVORS
One: Is someone out there conversant with Adobe InDesign who would be willing to change the date on two flyers? I am balking at paying up to 100 bucks–though maybe I’m just being cheap. Or maybe I’m just asking in the hopes I will receive! Two: A reminder about my newest book: HARROWED: Life Lessons […]
A VOCATION OF WATER: HOW ONE MAN IS BRINGING NEW LIFE TO EL SALVADOR
“El Salvador is an amazing country. Its nickname is ‘the little flea of Latin America’ because it’s so small. But the microcosm of the cosmos is here in this little country.”
“This is home now for my family, for me. Water extrapolated to conflict resolution extrapolated to the Kingdom of God.”
THE FOUR QUADRANTS OF CONFORMISM
Graham’s thesis is that passively conventionally-minded are the largest group and the aggressively independent-minded (among whom he clearly counts himself) are the smallest.
We would probably all like to count ourselves among the independent-minded. But how deeply have the purportedly independent-minded in our culture truly thought?
DIGNITY AND JUSTICE: UNPACKING IMMIGRATION LAW
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: Linda Dakin-Grimm grew up Catholic, first in Riverside, then in Portland, Oregon. In college, she moved away from the faith, then became an attorney and for decades worked as a trial lawyer in high-stakes business litigation. She was partner in a prestigious firm, with offices in […]
WHAT WE’RE OBLIGATED TO SEE
I’ve been working on getting my next book, HARROWED: LIFE LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN, in publishable shape. And getting the dox together to apply for Irish citizenship. And writing my weekly column. And having many conversations per week with the many people of prayer, thought and heart who keep me afloat.
TIME TO THINK
Over the freakishly hot weekend, I enjoyed a couple of days indoors of reading, resting, pondering, and writing in my journal–and in the process learned some unsavory but nonetheless quite welcome things about myself!
ART WORTH DYING FOR: JAMES DICKSON INNES
Born in Llanelli, Innes studied at Carmarthen Art School and the Slade. A colleague there noted that he ‘was of middle height, black haired and thin featured, handsome to many people… there may have been something satanic in his look.”… He was already dying of tuberculosis, having been diagnosed at 21.
THE EXISTENTIAL DILEMMA OF MASKING
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: “If you invest in the marriage of the inner and outer worlds by putting honest energy into dreaming a dream on, all the people in your life, maybe the whole of humankind, is enriched, though it may not produce the result your ego was seeking. This […]
24 YEARS A CATHOLIC
In solitary confinement, in the labor camps, Fr. Ciszek learned at last what St. Thérèse of Lisieux did in her Carmelite cell: “Each of us has no need to wonder about what God’s will must be for us; his will for us is clearly revealed in every situation of every day.”
I’M NOT A BRAND, I’M A FRAME!
I’ve been hard at work and have come up with a kind of frame to put around my work. More on this later, but for now I’ll just say the frame is called DESIRE LINES: Arts, Divine Intoxication. Faith. Above are my logo and banner! You’ll be seeing more of this in the coming week […]