Does anyone remember my friend St. Joseph of Cupertino? Well, I wrote a post about him once and tonight’s movie is all about him. It is called The Reluctant Saint and stars Maximilian Schell as St. Joseph. I don’t know about you, but I’ve about had my fill of prima donnas lately. If you are like me, this film will hit the sweet spot. I like to think of St. Joseph of Cupertino as “the little saint who could.” No one thought... Read more
I received a note the other day in my e-mail inbox informing me of a movie that would soon be released on DVD. I noted the title of the film and realized that it was still playing in one of the theaters in our town.The movie I’m referring to is Visions: From the Life of Hildegard of Bingen. Now, my plan was to take my wife with me to this film, but she and my daughter were engaged in another... Read more
Gordon Gekko, Disciple of Mammon -Feast of St. Julius OK. Let’s say (just for fun) that we’ve tossed Christ and His Church into the dustbin of history. Too many rules and regulations, see? Too much guilt and that unpalatable need to be responsible, etc. We’re now “all-in” on worshiping the god named Mammon. We love Mammon and will always do his bidding willingly. Would it come as a surprise to you to learn that we are about as faithful to... Read more
—Feast of St. Stanislaw We are called to love one another. A cursory look at the New Testament will show this time after time. But guess what? Love hurts too, and we all know it. Betrayal, denial, loss. These are the pathogens of our brokenness. The songs in today’s MfM set list move through the stages of Love that we all encounter. But we’ll be skipping the puppy love sweetness and head straight to the hard stuff. Because love and... Read more
OK, I admit: I went grudgingly. The leader of our School of Community proposed we do a work of charity for the parish monthly. The pastor suggested visiting a local nursing home within our parish boundaries and where he celebrates Mass once a month. And so today seven of us met at the entrance of the nursing home. I kept thinking: I have papers to grade and laundry to do and a kitchen to clean and a garden to plant.... Read more
Guest Post by Dwija Borobia How do I make seeing the light of Christ entertaining? That’s what I’ve been wrestling with in my mind. I can’t just say “When we moved to rural Michigan, we basked in the light of Jesus” and then stop. I can’t even say “and he had a white beard,” because most people imagine Jesus with a beard, and so it’s still not funny. How about this: When we moved here, we saw the light of... Read more
I’ve written a little bit in the past about how it was that I came to be a Catholic. Everyone knows Catholics are born and not made, right? That’s what I used to think too. But when I started looking into the matter, I skipped the opinions of the literati and of “those who know best” and just started reading the books of the Bible that had been removed by Martin Luther and his brethren during the Protestant Reformation. Amazingly... Read more
-Feast of St. Julie Billiart It is getting towards the end of the Season of Lent. I don’t know about you, but this time around Lent seems to be flying by at warp speed. Before you know it, we will be celebrating the Resurrection. Saints be praised! Did you guys enjoy last week’s selection? I love pulling out the older black and white movies, listening to my kids groan for the first thirty seconds only to see them get wrapped... Read more
-Feast of St. John Baptist de la Salle About a month ago, I wrote a wee post around a television interview Mike Wallace did with Ayn Rand back in 1959. I just as easily could have used an interview she did later on. Same story, same selfish pseudo-philosophy. You see, being selfish is easy and being a Christian is hard. And being really, and truly Christian is almost never even attempted. (more…) Read more
The sword shall begin with his cities and end by consuming his solitudes. Because they refused to repent, their own counsels shall devour them. (Hosea 11:6) You may not have noticed that people are being killed in a war in a little country called the Ivory Coast. You noticed the insurrection in Egypt, though. And you noticed the cruise missiles raining down on Libya, because you started paying $4.00 a gallon for gas pretty quickly thereafter. Golly, you may be... Read more
Why I Am Catholic
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