It’s so very kind of you to come around with a bag of oranges my dear! Good heavens, what will you think with me still in my housecoat and slippers at this time of the morning? I suppose Jeanette told you I was under the weather, and there’s nothing like fresh oranges to make a nice hot toddy. I always add a spoonful of honey. It makes the whiskey taste better. Will you come it? I don’t think it’s the... Read more
What do you mean by ‘Prayer’ to start with? If you thought it was asking God for stuff you’re not completely wrong. We’re supposed to ask God for our needs, and I think it’s just fine to ask God for the particular things like, “Dear God, please heal my son.” or “Please God we need money to pay the bills.” However, these sorts of prayers are really a means to an end rather than an end in themselves. When we... Read more
Mark Shea has a good post here spring boarding on the now invisible Father Corapi. I’ve written before about the temptation to turn priests into superheroes. By all means love your priest, support your priest, but don’t turn him into a plaster saint or you’ll be disappointed. Furthermore, you won’t be doing him any favors. Live with him and love him as a man and a friend. Respect him and honor his priesthood, but don’t idolize him. If you idolize... Read more
In a nearby convent there was a nun who had taken to levitating during mystical prayer. The people were, of course, stupefied by this astounding miracle and were flocking to see the flying nun. The novices in Thomas’ friary were just as excited as the others and dragged the great philosopher off to see the floating sister. Thomas joined the crowd and gazed up at this amazing sight. Then, when the brothers asked him what he thought he said,... Read more
What was your relationship with your father like? I’ll bet it wasn’t perfect. That’s because your father was human and wasn’t perfect, but there is a deeper reason. It has to do with the way you’re wired. You were designed to need the perfect–I mean absolutely perfect–unconditional and complete love of a Father. In other words, you have within you a need for a Father that no father can ever fulfill. This is why so many people grow up and... Read more
When I was a high school chaplain I had a conversation with some nice parents who attended a Protestant church of some sort. They were distressed because their tenth grade son had announced that he no longer wanted to go to church. When they asked him why he said, “I love Jesus in my heart. Why do I need to go to church?” I asked the parents what their reply was and they rather stammered and stuttered that they didn’t... Read more
Someone in the combox observed that absolute moral standards demand an autocratic authority structure to enforce them, and this leads to the repression of individual freedoms. “All morality is relative”, so the argument goes, “therefore individuals must be free to make whatever moral choices they think are best.” The problem with this, of course, is that living together in community ultimately means that there has to be some rules. Like it or not, one simply cannot go around doing whatever one... Read more
Guest blogger Caitlin O’Rourke is a member of St Bridget’s, Church, High Dudgeon, New Jersey. Caitlin is ten years old. See what you probably didn’t know is that my middle name is Agnes but I don’t tell anybody because I don’t like it very much because Granny had a friend she used to take me to see who was in a nursing home and her name is Agnes but I didn’t go for a long time after Granny died but... Read more
Here is my latest article for National Catholic Register–for the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul this week. Read more
I have just finished the fascinating Proof of Heaven by Dr Eben Alexander. This is the story of the NDE (Near Death Experience) of a brain surgeon. When he came back from the other side he explains (as do most who have an NDE) how much more real the other world is than this one. He doesn’t talk much about religion, but he explains how, after his experience, when he went back to church–with it’s music, stained glass and sense of... Read more
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Fr. Dwight Longenecker
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