Jimmy Akin has a good review of this past Sunday’s Gospel reading up at the Register. Meanwhile, something to think about: When Philip asks, “Can anything good from Nazareth?” the intensity of the question is lost on us. When we hear other references to Jesus being from that town, there’s no real significance. It’s just this place. A little town like any other. We tend, then, to dismiss the rejection of Jesus in his hometown as just one of those... Read more
This past week a priest in our region died, suddenly and unexpectedly. He was not someone I knew personally, accident of geography. Friday morning as I opened class in prayer, I completely forgot to include Father in our prayers until one of the moms reminded me. In the excitement of a morning teaching, that sorrow again slipped from my mind. On the way into Benediction before Mass, I saw an acquaintance in the narthex, the father of one of my... Read more
Yesterday was my sister’s birthday, and since I’d lost her phone number (again!) I dropped her a note online to wish her many happy returns of the day. We chatted a bit, and then she asked that I unleash you prayer warriors on behalf of Casey Colvin, a young father who went in to the hospital for routine shoulder surgery and failed to come out due to cardiac arrest. So in your charity, please remember Casey and his family in... Read more
I am so stinking proud of Elizabeth Scalia for launching Aleteia’s new magazine For Her. I worked for Elizabeth during her tenure here at Patheos and she was a superlative editor — smart, insightful, hardworking, compassionate, and loads of fun. But wow, I had no idea she was about to go do something this fabulously amazingly awesomely cool. It’s a dream-come-true quality magazine launch: Finally we’ve got a real women’s magazine with the fashion spreads and the beautiful stuff, only... Read more
It’s the day of prayer and penance for the unborn, and not only am I not marching, I’m not even out teaching — home with a cold and watching a child with a cold, while other people carry on doing responsible things. As a result, I’ve tweeted a fair number of abortion-themed posts from this morning’s reading, but this bit from a Fr. Z. reader about chapel veils sums it all up better than anything. The reader, a Catholic high... Read more
Please welcome guest blogger Timothy Scott Reeves. Scott is a philosophy student, father of six, and all around good guy. He’s Anglican in the CS Lewis and early-GKC tradition, and circulates comfortably in the meat-world orthocathosphere. I always find his comments insightful and was pleased when he offered to write a guest post for this blog. Enjoy! Hashtags, Prayers, and Progressive Fundamentalists: A Lesson from Sister Simone What have fundamentalists to do with prayer? Everything…and nothing. They are... Read more
Happy New Year everyone! I’m doing fine, a bit tired and a lot busy with regular life, which finds me offline more than usual lately. I’m looking forward to getting back to more blogging in the weeks ahead. Meanwhile, as often happens in winter, I’ve been writing fiction. It’s a hobby, and addictive enough I probably need a National Don’t Write A Novel Month. First drafts are my specialty, thanks. In a rare bit of online reading today I came across... Read more
Years ago my husband had a business trip to Milan, and he went to church while he was there. A local colleague tried to puzzle out this behavior, for it wasn’t mere tourism. “But nothing is wrong with you,” he protested. “You are young, healthy, intelligent, educated, successful. Why would you go to church?” Church was where the old and the poor and the disabled went — people who were desperate. People who needed consolation. He wasn’t entirely wrong. The... Read more
I could spend a very long time listing all the good things I’ve seen priests doing — Father E.* stories are practically a genre for me. But my husband asked me to tell one that happened to him recently, and I wasn’t there which is why it all happened in the first place, so forgive the lapses that come from second-hand reporting. *** The background is this: My family is divided 50/50 between choir members and pewsitters. Thus, normally at... Read more
So I have a couple priest-friends who can pretty much match me for jerk-power, but it works out because we know each other. We can do something stunningly stupid, and those who know us will put that low moment into the overall context of all the other things we do, shrug, and tell us to straighten up and fly right. This is how it is with all your friends and family. Because you live together, you see them at their... Read more
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