Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world
“Whenever you see a poor, wooden cross, alone, uncared-for, worthless…and without a corpus, don’t forget that that cross is your cross — the everyday hidden cross, unattractive and unconsoling — the cross that is waiting for the corpus it lacks: and that corpus must be you…” “You ask me, ‘Why that wooden cross?’ And I [...]
“It always helps to have a bit of prayer in your back pocket. At the end of the day, you have to have something and for me that is God, Jesus, my Catholic upbringing, my faith…” “God has been good to me. My faith has been good to me in the moments of deepest suffering, [...]
“What are my sources of strength? My husband and my three kids [Donna, Laura and John Jr.], my health-care team, and my religion. My desk drawer is filled with all kinds of prayers.” – Geraldine Ferraro, writing about her struggle with cancer, quoted here.
“Ash Wednesday is for people who know that it means for their soul to be logged with these icy waters: all of us are such people, if only we can realize it. There is confidence everywhere in Ash Wednesday, yet that does not mean unmixed and untroubled security. The confidence of the Christian is always [...]
This marks the feast of an American original: St. Katharine Drexel, a woman of our own time (she died on this date in 1955) who was an heiress — and nun. “If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and [...]
“Where would I be today without my crosses? What knowledge and wisdom would I lack without the challenges and difficulties that caused me to ask questions and passionately seek answers. When you suffer, platitudes aren’t enough, slogans won’t do. You have to go deeper, search for real answers and often learn that there are no [...]
“If only 15% of Catholics go to Mass on a given Sunday, look around and see how many of them are old. Even the 15% who are there won’t be there for very long. The solution is simple: we must return to the supernatural realities of the historic faith and evangelize like the Apostles of [...]
So, Lil Wayne, read any good books lately? “I also read the Bible for the first time. It was deep! I liked the parts where some character was once this, but he ended up being that. Like he’d be dissing Jesus, and then he ends up being a saint. That was cool.” – Rapper Lil [...]
Words to live by… “Break your mirrors! Yes, indeed — shatter the glass. In our society that is so self-absorbed, begin to look less at yourself and more at each other. Learn more about the face of your neighbor, and less about your own. I suggest this: when you get to be 30, 40, 50, [...]
“I do not want you stage folk to develop the idea that the Catholic Church now formally approves of things on the stage.” – New York Cardinal John M. Farley, in creating the Catholic Actors Guild in 1914. Read all about it here. Fascinating stuff!
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