When I was a baby, on my first Christmas, my family had a very simple nativity set. The world “creche” was one that I would be taught later! That creche sits on my desk in my home office this Christmas when I am fifty-seven. There is as much glue holding it together as plastic, the kind of plastic made in the early sixties that is brittle and sharp when it breaks. I know. This nativity set, like my life, has... Read more
If I have a bad day, I call my dad and say: “It is another red letter day at the Bailey Building and Loan.” This is a line from a Frank Capra film. Dad knows it indicates a very hard day. Generally, he gives me a true word, speaking encouragement or correction into hard times. Dad tells me what is so. That can be disappointing, as reality is hard. Dad does not hesitate to tell me what I should hear... Read more
We got out our first Christmas ornament last night from thirty-five years ago as we decorated our tree: once again just the two of us. The next day we journeyed with our son-in-law and daughter to help select their first tree. Their car was jam-packed with ornaments from Target as ours, so many years ago, had been filled with the treasures of Mr. Woolworth. This was entirely happy. There were joys in our first Christmas together, jollity when our children... Read more
Many of our Christmas pictures this COVID year will have masks over beloved faces. Our Christmas tree supplier, hooking us up with jollification, asked us to mask up, so we did. Why not? We did not have to get our tree at that store. We could have gone to an outside lot with no masking, but we like our local lot. The folks working there are a jolly lot and we were happy to support them. Times are tough, and... Read more
Christmas is coming, but Advent is here. The College and the School at Saint Constantine will concede no joy to anyone. We want all the goodness, truth, and beauty that there is. If there is a party to be had, we want to be there. If that party does more harm than good, then our pastors will point this out and we will back out, but not because of the fun. A party that is harmful is no party, but... Read more
The wonder puppy-almost-a-dog Nessie rests when she is tired. As she spends much of the day rushing about to get the ball, a bone treat, and her plastic green pig, she is frequently tired. When she is tired, she ceases to fetch the ball, want a bone treat, leap for the plastic pig, and sleeps on her “Made in Texas” dog pillow. Often she will find a bed or couch where someone also is resting and appropriate this space for... Read more
Social media reminded me that four years ago last week, I began to pray for Donald Trump as our President Elect. I continued to pray then, as I had for his whole term, for my President Barack Obama. Four years later I have begun to pray for Joseph Biden as our President Elect and continue to pray for my President Donald Trump as I have every day of his administration.* Sacred Scripture and my Church bid me to pray for political... Read more
Small wonders fill us with thanksgiving: this is the lesson of young Nessie. We are urban by choice, but Hope works hard at urban gardening and Nessie, the growing puppy-almost-a-dog, has discovered her lemons. She discovers them everyday since they started growing on the tree. She has wondered about each step in the process from small green to large yellow. The amazing thing is that every day she looks at the tree as if she has never seen just this tree... Read more
Christians must always give peace a chance. We side with the poor, the broken, the oppressed, because that is what our Savior tells us to do. Read the Bible and you cannot miss the special concern for the alien, the poor, the widow, the orphan, and those oppressed. We are a faith born in solidarity with the oppressed. Visions can convert Emperors and in this splendid moment, Christians can build enduring civilizations. Our beautiful cathedrals, cities, and cultures are built... Read more
I started a film program, but I am not a professional critic. However, as a student of film and culture, I recommend Day of the Siege. You will learn through this film to live not by lies. You see that times have been worse and that the cowards, the sycophants to tyrants, and the Machiavellian fail. The good, the truthful, and the beautiful endure. This is a film at war with Hollywood, thank God. The computer generated graphics are crude, the acting... Read more
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