It’s black and oily and it looks like a hapless rat, its rib cage filled to overflowing with cloves of roasted garlic. The rodent’s pungent odor wafts through the air as soon as the waitress leaves the kitchen with my entrée, plopped on the plate between the mashed potatoes and the sauerkraut. I catch my breath, thinking that this would be completely inedible had the chef not removed its head and tail. As it is, I think I can stomach... Read more
He was a priest in Rome. No, he was a bishop in Interamna (now the region of Terni, Italy). No, he was a martyr in the Roman province of Africa. * * * * There’s a lot of confusion, actually, about St. Valentine, whose feast we celebrate today. The most popular legend places Valentine near Rome in the third century, during the reign of the Emperor Claudius III (nicknamed Claudius the Cruel). According to... Read more
In his inaugural address on Monday, January 21, Barack Obama called for Americans to embrace same-sex marriage, saying: Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law–for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. This stands in sharp contrast to the sage counsel of Pope Benedict XVI. The pontiff, in his address to the Charity Council on... Read more
Everyone’s talking about Pope Benedict’s resignation, and wondering who will be elected by the Cardinals to serve as the 266th head of the Catholic Church. Some names which have been repeated in the media include Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; and Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa; and Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and former archbishop of Cape Coast in Ghana. Two... Read more
In the winter, or whenever the weather is inclement, the Pope’s regular Wednesday General Audience is moved from St. Peter’s Square to the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall. That was the case today, when thousands of the faithful crowded to hear the Holy Father speak for the first time since his announcement on Monday that he will retire from the papacy on February 28. The Paul VI hall is dominated by Pericle Fazzini’s sculpture, “The Resurrection.” Dedicated in 1977,... Read more
It’s kinda funny. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns us against doing good in order to be seen. He gives us three examples: Almsgiving – “When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is... Read more
Cristo Redentor (in English, Christ the Redeemer), the world’s largest statue, is a cultural icon: It’s featured in the 2009 disaster film 2012, in a version of Angry Birds, in the remake of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, in The Twilight Saga, and in Mr. Magoo. Made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, the 635-ton monument stands 2,300 feet over the city of Rio de Janeiro, atop Corcovado mountain in Brazil’s Tijuca Forest National Park. And now, it’s caught the eye... Read more
I understand that “tired” feeling. Lately, some days I’ve found myself wringing my hands [metaphorically speaking], indignant about something I’ve read on Facebook, heard on the radio, watched on TV. “Why do I do this?” I mutter. I imagine myself freed from the daily grind—puttering in the garden, walking in the woods, curled up with a good book, but no longer engaging the culture at the level of confrontation and compromise. In other words, I think of retirement. But I... Read more
Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. –Genesis 3:19 Yeah, right. You know, in your heart of hearts, that that means everyone else but you—don’t you? It’s the human condition. We give lip service to our mortality, joking about it at the water cooler with a wry smile—but we live as though there were no tomorrow, and no end of tomorrows. It seems that many of us don’t REALLY believe that one day we will... Read more
Priests and deacons: Do not do this. Ever. Do not ever embarrass or harrass your parishioners, making a jerk of yourself while you run some poor guy into the ground. Hat tip to the fascinating website 22 Words, which brought this to my attention. Read more
Seasons of Grace
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