Today is the feast day of St Jerome. We owe this man a great deal. He spent many years of his life translating the Scriptures into Latin. This gave the Church a usable translation of the whole Scriptures that they could use. Here, from Catholic Online, is a brief description of St Jerome’s life and accomplishments: St. Jerome, who was born Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius, was the most learned of the Fathers of the Western Church. He was born about the... Read more

Fr Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Jesuit priest in India, has been imprisoned on charges of terrorism. However, his supporters say the real reason for his incarceration is that he spoken out for the human rights of indigenous people. From Earthbeat: An 83-year-old Jesuit priest imprisoned in India on accusations of terrorism has been targeted because of his defense of indigenous people’s land rights, church and human rights leaders say. Fr. Stan Swamy, who is from India’s Jamshedpur province, has worked... Read more

This video is difficult to watch. I can’t imagine the terror and anguish Ms Taylor’s boyfriend is going through. This kind of thing happens more often than people realize.     Read more

There are days when I miss my mother so much, it aches. Grief is a slow moving sickness and there is not drug to “fix” it. When it comes to grief, you have to just work your way through it as best you can. Mothers, in particular, are hard to lose. This old song isn’t about mothers, but it describes what they are to most of us really well. Your parents are the people who are always on your side... Read more

This hymn has a powerful story of suffering, grief and faith behind it. It was written by Horatio Spafford. His wife and four daughters were shipwrecked on a trip to England from America and all four of his daughters were lost. Spafford wrote this hymn on his way to England t be with his wife after the tragedy. When you know that, it gives the words so much more meaning. I think of it as a hymn for troubled times.... Read more

Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees contained several important points. His main points were: You have to know in order to understand. Knowledge is a necessary step towards understanding others. It is necessary to be close in order to serve. In order to be reconciled, we need to listen. In order to grow, it is necessary to share. We need to be involved in order to promote. It is necessary to cooperate in order to... Read more

COVID deaths have crossed the 200,000 mark. That number does not include the people who didn’t and didn’t need to die because they were unable to receive timely medical care for other ailments due to the logjams in our hospitals. It also doesn’t include the COVID related grief of not being able to be with your loved one while they are dying or having a loved one die without receiving the sacraments because of COVID. I’ve read stories online of... Read more

Recovering from a stroke is spooky weird. Problems show up that you didn’t know you had long afterwards. Also, even after you have passed the early recovery, you can still manage to recover further. It takes enormous work and repetition. And, just when you think you are making progress, it will slide back down again. But it can be done. A large part of stroke recovery is to keep on working to recover. As with a lot of things, it’s... Read more