Okay, I had said Friday would be for “Faith” stories, and then wrote about the Olympics and the Tsunami. I’m sorry. But I did say “breaking news” would get looked at! :-) I’m done with that for the day, though, because these stories are so much better, and more meaningful, than the rest of the day’s headlines: Check out this great story of some of our young football players, and how faith plays such a strong role in their lives.... Read more
Okay, so Chicago did not get the Olympics. I was certain Obama was going to Copenhagen because it was a done deal, and he’d get a little glory for bringing the Games to his home city, and show everyone how much the world loved him. I was wrong. But this is a big story -and a bit of an embarrassment for the president- for one reason, and one reason only: the excessive, slobbering press created gigantic expectation. Listening to CNN... Read more
Ste. Thérèse de L’Enfant Jesus et de la Sainte Face From the Responsory for today’s Office of Readings: From the very beginning, O God, you came to me with your love, which has grown since my childhood – Its depths I cannot fully grasp. O Lord, how great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. – Its depths I cannot fully grasp. Coming directly after Therese’s nearly ecstatic words in the second reading, the quiet... Read more
Now, this is a curious thing. The Rhetoritician makes the valid point that Hollywood wishes to excuse men like Roman Polanski from their wrongdoing, but will work to destroy men like Mark Foley for theirs. Recalling Orwell’s Animal Farm The Rhetoritician entitles his piece Some are more Equal than Others. Looking at pictures from U2’s big concert in DC last night, I am seeing a pattern emerge. I am a fan -a big fan- of U2’s music. I still think... Read more
Ancora Imparo (I am still learning.) – Michelangelo It strikes me that the journey of faith is similar to that of an artist’s growth. Both the spiritual seeker and the artist travel the interior road, and since the road is infinite, they are -no matter how long they study and seek and work- still at the beginning. We are all still learning. This is what Archbishop Anthony Bloom wrote in his excellent book, Beginning to Pray, which I posted on... Read more
Two Polish men. Both artists. Both “brilliant.” Both persecuted by Nazis, in their native land. One was a prisoner, one was a slave. When the Nazis left, the Communists came. One, Roman Polanski, becomes a filmmaker. He encounters a 13 year old girl. One, Karol Wojtyla, becomes a priest. He too, encounters a 13 year old girl. After his encounter, the filmmaker -still a youngish man- runs away, out into the world, saying “everyone wants to do what I did.”... Read more
Honestly, you’d think that -of all issues in the world- the rape of a 13 year old by a 44 year old man would be one issue on which people on the left and the right could come together. Apparently not. For the record, let Kate Harding remind us what Roman Polanski did. As the chronic moral arbiters of the world, who work out of Hollywood, rush to defend Roman Polanski by signing petitions, crying about how they can’t watch... Read more
One of these days, I will learn how to take a picture out of a digital camera (or my phone) and post a picture of my Oratory for you. Suffice to say it is makeshift. I have a cushion for sitting or kneeling (it’s big). I’ve pushed a glass-topped credenza to the wall, leaned four Icons against it, and I have these solid brass angel/candleholders I picked up for cheap some years ago at an antique shop. Tealight candles scattered... Read more
A while back I wrote: Are we making Idols of our Ideologies? It’s a good question, one to keep on a personal backburner whenever we find our political passions inflamed. I thought of it today as I watched this video of Obama supporters apparently calling on the name of the then-president-elect, in their intercessory prayer. Ed Morrissey rightly wonders what it is we’re hearing. When I first watched it -guided by the captions- I heard “Obama,” and of course, reacted... Read more
One of my very favorite feastdays, and a good tonic before we meet the curmudgeonly St. Jerome, tomorrow: From today’s Office of Readings, we read Michael’s battle with the dragon (Rev 12:1-17a) and then this homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great: You should be aware that the word “angel” denotes a function rather than a nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover, those... Read more
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