The life of faith, in truth, is -like Jumpin’ Jack Flash, a g-g-gas; it is a mind-blower. We humans tend to try to put everything, including God, and love and life, into manageable compartments, and we hide in them. We hide inside our frameworks, our structures, our plans, our narratives, our willful and our unintentional bigotries. But God -who created a world of order- points cannons at those tidy compartments and goes ba-boom! And when we ask, repeatedly, “why did... Read more
Via Joseph Susanka’s post at Inside Catholic, a bird’s eye view of what we’re up against in the Gulf, where, we are now told, is much worse than we have known. Calculating the exact flow of crude out of the bent Deepwater Horizon oil rig “riser” pipe on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is difficult. But it’s now likely that the actual amount of the oil spill dwarfs the Coast Guard’s figure of 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons,... Read more
Longtime readers know that, while there is much that I admire about Sarah Palin, I am still on the fence about any notion that she should run for president. My reservations stem in part from some of Palin’s own moves, but it may be her base that really sours me on her; not even mild and constructive criticism, rendered with a dollop of sympathy can be endured by some members of Palin’s over-protective base. I understand why they are overprotective;... Read more
Our good friends, the Dominican Nuns of Summit, New Jersey (who have added lovely lilac and lilly of the valley scents to their line of soaps and lotions) are celebrating with pizza today as they receive yet another novice to the novitiate and clothe her in monastic habit of the Order of Preachers. The former Sr. Janlyn has taken the name Cecilia, and has brought them music! Sr. Cecilia of the Annunciation, Clothed in Habit I like the Homily of... Read more
Benedict and Baby in Fatima Benedict has Flown to Portugal Half a million pilgrims turned out to celebrate mass (full text of homily here) with Pope Benedict XVI on this “whopper” of a day, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima. #Fatima was trending on Twitter today, where I also learned that today is Shavuot, which commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the Israelite... Read more
The Art and Chaos of Misdirection. H/T: Patrick Madrid, who has a few more videos. Read more
How ironic that in a year where religious, and especially priestly, celibacy has been put under a microscope, debated and often excoriated, the secular hipsters in New York City are discovering the power that comes with celibacy: “I had man whiplash,” [Julia Allison] says. “I needed to put my neck in a brace.” She issued a proclamation, writing on her Web site last week, “I decided to codify my unofficial gut reaction of ‘I really don’t feel like dating’ into... Read more
This young woman is confused about many things. Horowitz: Will you condemn Hamas? Chilling Young Woman: Would I condemn Hamas? Horowitz: …as a terrorist organization, a genocidal orga – CYW: Are you asking me to put myself on a cross? An interestingly phrased answer that hints at cultural confusion. The Muslim young woman is a Jew-hater who alludes to the possibility of suffering a martyrdom most-identified with by Christians, should she declare her beliefs. This young woman is further confused... Read more
A morning email from a good friend: You predicted Bush would pick Bernard Kerik for Homeland Security (that didn’t work out). You predicted Bush would pick Harriet Miers for the Court (also, ahem, didn’t work out). You predicted Hillary would cry before the New Hampshire primaries in ’08 (things…did not work out for her) and on In the Arena last week, you predicted Obama would choose Kagan. I think your successful predictions are like a kiss-of-death, and Kagan should be... Read more
From an Anchoress reader out there, among you, a prayer request for Mercy: “Please pray for my sister’s newborn baby girl. I’m 5000 miles from my family so my details are sparse but the baby was born today full term but with breathing problems. My sister already lost my niece’s twin in utero due to swine flu so I’m really praying for her that this baby is okay. Her name is Mercy.” Please pray – storm heaven for Mercy and... Read more
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