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THE TRAGICOMEDY OF THE CROSS
PIANIST MARIA YUDINA: HOLY FOOL
“Yudina was a strange person, and very much a loner.” “Strange things kept happening to her.” “Yudina saw music in a mystical light. For instance, she saw Bach’s Goldberg Variations as a series of illustrations to the Holy Bible,” Shostakovich observed. “She always played as though she were giving a sermon.”
MAKE CLEAR MY WAY
We long for purity, we humans: purity of heart, purity of motive, purity of way of life. But life, culture, our era and place inevitably make it so we can never be as pure as we’d like to.
MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE
Do you ever feel that you have “nowhere to lay your head”–in and out of the Church? Join the club. The good news is that makes us available and open to everyone.
AFTERLIFE, INTERRUPTED
“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.”
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?’ ”