“I don’t want to be the guy with the one talent who buries it in the ground out of fear,” says Fr. Nathan. I have a gift. I feel I should use it.”
THE TRAGICOMEDY OF THE CROSS
CHARITY, CARYLL HOUSELANDER STYLE
It seems to me that somhow or other we ought to be strong-minded enough to work in one’s home unassailed, but it is a great problem.
MARY HAS CHOSEN THE BETTER PART
Interestingly, I’m always way more comfortable writing for free than for money. For whatever that’s worth, which is maybe nothing.
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.
THE SAINT WITH THE ASH BLOND WIG
The day of my appointment, I found a seat and looked around at the ten or so others, perched stiffly on the edges of their chairs. “They know what it’s like to lie staring at the ceiling all night;” I thought; “they could die, too.”
THE ROOTS OF LIFE
It’s kind of been all Thérèse of Lisieux, all the time, these past couple of weeks. I just finished re-reading The Hidden Face by Ida Friederike Görres: HIGHLY recommended. She starts out by saying basically: Who has ever first read The Story of a Soul (Thérèse’s autobiography) and not been deeply disappointed? “To be sure,” […]
THE SPRING IS NOT FOR ME
Bernadette wants nothing more than to take a job as a housemaid and live in anonymity. “Can you imagine yourself as a nun some day?” the kindly Father Peyramale inquires. “Dear God, no,” she replies. “That’s far above me.”
LENT
The other thing is I’ve been working a lot. I’ve signed on to write a study guide on St. Thérèse of Lisieux so am once again knee-deep in The Little Flower, the Little Way, the Holocaust-Victim-of-Love concept, and so much more that dovetails nicely with the forty days in the desert into which we’re collectively heading.
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION
Speaking about prayer, I asked John Eudes a question that seemed very basic and a little naïve: ‘When I pray, to whom do I pray? When I say ‘Lord,’ what do I mean?’ ”
AN INTERVIEW WITH–ME!
I put everything that interests me to use, one way or the other: martyrs, cults, women’s tennis, Scottish otter keepers, heroin-addicted jazz singers, cloistered nuns, serial murderers.
WASTEBASKET NOT, WANT NOT
Still, there was the matter of the old trash can, which technically still had quite a bit of life in it.
THE LAST HOUR
I think many stop short at the brokenness, fallenness and failure of the Church (and how could it be otherwise, as the Church is comprised of us?) to live out the Gospel message. But I don’t see how anyone could go to Christ–to his heart, his life, teachings, death; the parables with their inexhaustible levels of meaning, and fail to be electrified.
SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN
Am I the only one who gets ever-so-slightly OCD over string lights this time of year?
THE MODERN CONSCIOUSNESS
“I think that the Church is the only thing that is going to make this horrible world we are coming to endurable; the only thing that makes the Church endurable is that somehow she is the body of Christ and that on this we are fed.”
–Flannery O’Connor