I watch cooking competitions all the time, like Guy Fieri’s “Tournament of Champions.” (Yeah Antonia Lofaso)! We also watch Top Chef and this year, I am rooting for Tristan. The guy is a rock, steady in the kitchen and in life. Go watch the Pizza and the Restaurant Wars episodes if you want to know why. He’s a good cook and person –and that’s what I like. For years, we played a cooking game like Beat Bobby Flay (I’m Bobby... Read more
First, he really said this: And second, syncophants nearly wet themselves tweeting what a fantastic idea this was. I screenshot this but feel unclean for having seen it at all. So, President Donald Trump mentioned he wouldn’t mind being named Pope. Leaving aside the abolute hell no gag reflex, (and it isn’t easy), this is comedy gold. So I will started brainstorming things the Don would do if elected to the papacy, tongue planted firmly in cheekiness. THINGS PRESIDENT TRUMP... Read more
Pope Francis died Easter Monday and the world has lost a good and faithful servant of the Catholic church. His papacy began in the fall of 2013, when then Pope Emeritus Benedict retired. Hallmarked by a consistent deep love for the poor, manifested in visible outreach to the imprissoned and the marginalized, Pope Francis also called on the modern world, the western world, the wealthy world, to recognize the humanity of the poor and the suffering. When Pope Francis came... Read more
I’d decided not to listen to the news this week, in an attempt to turn my focus more to God, than to the world. At mass on Sunday, the pastor mentioned that today’s mass was for …he said my mom’s name. On Palm Sunday, the mass offered at my parish, was for her. My kids love for me to make crosses out of the palms, and I was able to give them to some of my children. It was... Read more
If there is a way to misunderstand God, we in our freewill and predisposition to sin will find it. By most measures, this has been a good Lent. I’ve forgotten a few times about my chosen fast, but I’ve attended mass more, gone to confession and adoration more, and been more able to pray. At the same time, I’ve found myself in a desert of my spiritual life, discovering how needy I am in everything. How empty. How grieving. How... Read more
We live in a world that cannot bear the reality of reality. The cross itself indicates to us the delicate ballance of truth, that our lives are not merely horizontal or vertical, but always both and. We are a sinful, suffering, fallen people, who are also beloved of God. One does not negate the other, we remain the prodigal son and the older brother, both puzzled to no end by the infinite generous love of the father, knowing that the... Read more
We live in difficult times, but in truth, we have always lived in difficult times –it’s just we did not recognize the difficulties before us except in hindsight. These days, hindsight is fifteen seconds from now. Everything seems to be happening everywhere all at once. The reality is, as my sister wisely observed, “to love the ones in front of you.” That is the way out of darkness. Saint Mother Teresa said, if you want peace, go and love your... Read more
This week, I finally got to see the animated film that won best feature for 2024. “Flow” for those who don’t know, (also known as “Straume” in Latvian) is a wordless animated film directed by Gints Zilbalodis, with co-writing and production by Matīss Kaža. Visually, it is lovely. Narrative wise, it follows the adventures of a single black cat surviving in a post-apocalyptic world when the Earth flooded. There are no words. However, if you watch, you see the Gospel... Read more
This morning, I woke and felt like somehow, I’d missed Lent even though it only started last week. I’d resolved to stop doom scrolling, and found myself wedded to the phone more than ever over the weekend. Fasting from bread? I forgot on Saturday and ate tortillas. Prayer? Yes, some, here and there, more, a fledgling step towards God, and back steps too. My writing sits waiting for me to hit it again even as I urge my students to... Read more
With all due respect to Elon Musk’s vaulted opinion, given credence by the number of dollars that he maintains in his bank account, the world suffers not from an excess but from a scarcity of empathy. It is a lack of love for one’s fellow human being that leads to war. A lack of love leads to all the ills that society struggles to address. Not being able to see another person as having innate dignity is what makes people... Read more
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