As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully defined. Precise meanings are assigned to certain words so that the parties thoroughly understand both their legal rights and obligations arising from their voluntary agreement. When contracts are left unclear, and often even when they are not, lawsuits naturally arise. Laws passed by federal, state, and local legislatures, on the other hand, sometimes... Read more

Francis de Sales devised a plan. Until Francis (1567 – 1622), most believed that the only sure path to spiritual growth and connectedness to all things holy meant fully abandoning the ordinariness of every day life. Cloistered away, spending many hours in prayer, contemplation, and spiritual transcendence, it was a life that probably both allured and repelled. But for most who struggled with family, health concerns, and basic subsistence, it was simply an impractical, if not an impossible, way of life. Francis hoped to... Read more

Three wishes. We’ve all fantasized about finding that magic lamp, the one that could suddenly change everything, the one that would solve all of our earthly problems. Whether for an abundance of riches, overnight fame, or perhaps everlasting good health, the thought often strikes us. Especially since nothing much else would be required of us, other than our words. How great would that be? It’s a wonderful fantasy. Even two of the disciples succumbed to this easy temptation, as we saw last week. James and John approached... Read more

It hit me all at once this weekend. It’s nothing that I didn’t already know, nothing that I didn’t already feel. Yet, it has overtaken me, as if by surprise. Powerfully. Almost destructively. Yet, somehow peacefully. I still struggle to place the raw emotions in meaningful context. I still want desperately to protect, to reach out my hand, to cleanse the wounds, to heal the hurts. Yet here I stand, apart from them. I can only watch as baby steps... Read more

Muro Lucano is an ancient, tiny, hillside village located in Potenza, Italy. With little work available, heavy migration over the years, and hilly terrain, its last official population count, as of 2009, was just 5,812. The Village’s website today claims that the population is over 6,000, still a far cry from over 10,000 just a few decades ago. Economically distressed for years, Muro Lucano is not a thriving community. Its major claim to fame, as you can well imagine, is very limited and has been... Read more

Acknowledging his penchant for badly mangling the English language, the late Hall of Famer Yogi Berra famously titled one of his books When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! While obviously meant to be humorous, on some level it may also call to mind our (sometimes unconscious) desire to postpone major decision making – perhaps in a vain attempt to try and have it all. And while Robert Frost’s perhaps most famous poem, The Road Not Taken, is anything but... Read more

I ran across this YouTube video just yesterday. It’s just a bit difficult to hear in spots, even as the words appear on the screen. But oh, the voices! Yes, the voices are those of St. John Paul II and Blessed Mother Theresa, together, as they take turns praying, in English, one of the mysteries of the Rosary. It is, at once, both haunting yet peaceful, earthly yet other-worldly. I haven’t yet been able to track down the when and... Read more

Laudato si’, whether you approach it with the humility of an open and teachable heart, or whether you view it through the eyes of a questioning and thoughtful skeptic, is an extraordinary mosaic, one which artfully draws from the material, the moral, and the spiritual. It reminds us to be mindful both of our common home and our common oneness. It tightly binds together the sanctity of our earthly home with the sanctity of human life – at every stage, and in every form, without exception. As... Read more

  Yet another hate-filled rage brings mass murder, this time to the west. Despair envelops us, choking us from every direction. Even a cursory scroll through any social media platform tells the tale. Politics now feel broken beyond repair. The economy seems to have come off the rails. The international order has clearly become both disordered and dangerous. And a narcissistic breath throughout the age fuels – accelerates, actually – our race to the bottom (which, in and of itself, doesn’t appear to as big... Read more

Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower, on finding a way to love those in our lives whom we sometimes find disagreeable. Simple advice? Certainly. Easily accomplished? Certainly not. Effective? It can’t hurt! Today, the feast of St. Therese, might not be a bad day to give it a try. A certain member of the community had a way of annoying me by everything she did; the devil must have had a finger in this, by making me see only her... Read more