“If ever he knows himself, he surely dies.” – Blind seer Tiresias to Narcissus’ mother, Liriope, when asked if Narcissus will live to an old age My iPhone went dead the other day. Not that it was anything special. Just another episode of me overusing and underpowering this magical handheld device. But something struck me when my screen went black. Suddenly, I thought of Narcissus. It is a beguiling tale to say the least. It is from a small section... Read more
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” – Matthew 19:14 “Grown-up people do not know that a child can give exceedingly good advice in the most difficult case…The soul is healed by being with children.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky We had just arrived. And I wasn’t sure how they would react. In my 7 years of being a father, I have discovered that there are... Read more
St. Bartholomew by Rembrandt van Rijn Perhaps it is time for us to reflect on St. Bartholomew. For just a moment. Given what is happening in the world, I would argue that it is a perfect time. Selfishly, it is appropriate because Bartholomew serves as the patron saint of my home parish. And, on a larger scale, the Catholic Church just celebrated his Feast Day on August 24th. But perhaps the execution of journalist and devout Catholic James Foley should... Read more
Lucifer by Gustave Dore (Dante’s Inferno) “The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist.” – Charles Baudelaire “For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind.” – G.K. Chesterton “That’s my boy!” A beaming father tweeted a photo of his seven year-old son. But this tweet was not about his son’s game-saving catch or fierce landing of a king salmon or even his strong finish in the local spelling bee. No, Khaled Sharrouf... Read more
Robin Williams is dead. And I still can’t believe it. As a five year old in Star Wars pajamas, I remember racing my sisters for the best seat in my parents’ bedroom to watch a quirky, kinetic bushy-haired alien clad in striped shirt and rainbow suspenders irresistibly saying “Nanoo-Nanoo”. Mork & Mindy was the television series that made Robin Williams a sensation. As I grew older, I remember watching Williams as the squinty-eyed Popeye, the buxom and matronly Mrs. Doubtfire, and... Read more
“But what we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be.” – G.K. Chesterton In the last 48 hours, the United States has become involved in attempts to stop the ruthless barbarism of ISIS in Iraq (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, now known as Islamic State, but for simplicity further referred to as ISIS... Read more
“History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” – Mark Twain It had been nearly two years. And it was bloody. Very, very bloody. In June, 1941 the National Socialist (Nazi) state of Germany sat on top of the world. Emerging from the humiliating ashes of World War I and the economic devastation of the Great Depression, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party saw themselves transformed from a fringe party to the most powerful ideological and military force in... Read more
“Sad experience proves that human authority fails where religion is set aside.” – Pope Benedict XV On Sunday, July 27th, Pope Francis spoke briefly after his Angelus address about the one hundred year anniversary of the beginning of World War I. Here is what he had to say: “Tomorrow marks the one hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, which caused millions of deaths and immense destruction. This conflict, which Pope Benedict XV called a ‘senseless... Read more
Today, I learned of a terrible tragedy. It didn’t happen to me, but to dear friends. And it made me question hope. In the deep blackness of incomprehensible loss, how do we hope? When we are utterly sickened and mute by what has happened, how do we hope? And when exhausted yet fitful sleep leads us to awaken once again to the awful, taunting truth, how do we hope? I don’t know. I don’t know. Perhaps, there is no strategy or mindset to... Read more
If you haven’t heard the name ISIS (also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL and recently renamed, the Islamic State), then welcome back from the planet Mars. The marauding Islamic jihadist blitzkrieg killing its way across Iraq has made itself known largely for its brazen violence and its ruthless intolerance of anything that approaches apostasy. And who is deemed an apostate? Any non-Sunni who disagrees with the... Read more
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