Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” –John 8:31-32 Today’s Gospel begins with that dynamic promise by Christ. The Truth will set us free. The painting at right is titled “Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy.” The artist, French rococo painter François Lemoyne, was born in Paris in 1701, and enjoyed... Read more
Do you remember when the Pope met the crocodile? It was back in January when Yitzhak Yadid, an official from Rome’s 100-year-old Bioparco zoo, in a nod to Pope Benedict’s upcoming trip to Cuba, brought to the Wednesday General Audience an endangered Cuban crocodile. About two feet long, the scaly Crocodylus rhombifer had been confiscated from an Italian woman who owned it illegally. The plan was to rehabilitate the young reptile, and then return it to its swampy home in... Read more
Notre Dame is still struggling with its mission as Our Lady’s university. On August 15, 1990, Pope John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae (English: From the Heart of the Church). The document marked the first step in the systematic effort to renew and reform Catholic higher education around the world. One might have hoped that Catholic universities and Catholic professors were already applying their faith in the classroom and around the campus, and that publication of... Read more
Even before Pope Benedict emerged this week for the first time using a cane in public, as he walked to board his plane at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport en route to Mexico, rumors of his retirement were flying. The Italian daily newspaper “Libero” reported last fall that the pope was thinking of resigning from the papacy in Spring 2012, when he turns 85. Journalist Antonio Socci, writing in the same newspaper, confirmed that prediction. In October 2011, when Pope Benedict first... Read more
I love the fine good manners of our Pope. Pope Benedict is on his way—crossing the Atlantic on his first trip to Mexico and Cuba. But as he flies, he crosses through the airspace of many nations; and courteous guest that he is, he’s taking the time along the way to send a personal greeting to each of the heads of state whose countries he traverses. France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greenland (Denmark), Canada, and the United States: Pope Benedict... Read more
College guys take a hike in spike heels. This is the first time I’ve heard about this. Not because the idea is so new—but rather, because I’m so out of touch. Apparently it’s not new at all, as an increasing number of men’s groups across America and throughout the world have participated in the International Men’s March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault and Gender Violence. I saw pictures of men in Africa, tottering in women’s heels. I saw the men... Read more
Hail Mary, full of grace. On March 25—exactly nine months before Christmas—the Catholic Church commemorates the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to a young Jewish girl and told her that God would like her to be the mother of the Savior. “How can this be,” Mary responded, “since I know not man?” Contemporary artist John Collier tells the story of the Annunciation in a fresh way in this painting, which can be found in the narthex of St. Gabriel... Read more
Some days one idea catapults into another, with the result that the sublime slams headlong into the ridiculous, producing a flaming nonsequitur of a blog post. Today is one of those days. I read that on September 13, 1501, Michelangelo began carving what is perhaps his pièce de résistance, the 17-foot marble sculpture of David, the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity. And I remembered the day we saw [well, ALMOST saw] The Statue, and the day I saw The Toilet.... Read more
“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want–oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” — Mark Twain It’s never just happiness and smiles. Here it is, a glorious Springtime in Michigan. The first flowers are bursting forth, frothing explosions of yellow and purple and white gussying up the brown earth, not unlike stars which... Read more
Former president Jimmy Carter, once a Georgia peanut farmer, once the leader of the free world, has just published a new bible. Called the Lessons From Life Study Bible, Carter’s new edition combines the NIV (New International Version) with Carter’s own, down-home advice and personal reflections. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan Publishing Company, which released the Lessons From Life Study Bible, expects to sell about 250,000 copies. President Carter is no stranger to the scriptures. A Sunday School teacher throughout... Read more
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