COLUMNS
Patience with God is often a struggle
There’s an adage that says that an atheist is simply someone who cannot grasp metaphor. Thomas Halik, the Czech writer, would suggest rather that an atheist is someone who cannot be patient enough with God.
Finding a good man requires a different perspective
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” – so wrote the renowned Southern author Flannery O’Connor some 60 years ago in what is today considered among the best American short stories ever written. When I was young, I found it macabre – a story of evil men gunning down an …
Taking steps to a joyful heart
SPIRITUALITY FOR TODAYJoy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is given freely to anyone who asks, but it needs to be developed through practice the same way a musically gifted person must practice with his or her instrument. To be joyful, you must will it every day.
Our attitude towards wealth
The rich are getting richer, and we are almost beyond surprise at how rich that is. Every day, our newspapers, our televisions, and the Internet, report financial compensations that, even just a generation ago, were unimaginable: Corporate executives receiving multi-million dollar bonuses, athletes signing for similar amounts, entertainers negotiating …
Emergency or blessing? The power of silence
TWENTY SOMETHINGMy dad and brother just returned from a fly-in fishing adventure in the Canadian wilderness – fly in, that is, because their outpost camp...
Special thanks to our schools, religious education programs
So often we focus on what needs to be better, what has to change, where we are falling short. These are important things to consider as we review our lives and our ministries as individuals, parishes and a diocese.
In the Footsteps of Popes
THINGS MY FATHER TAUGHT ME by Mary MorrellRetreatants engage in time-honored papal practiceA number of years ago, Father Eugene Hemrick, a Catholic News Service columnist, wrote an instructive column about the value of the silent retreat.
Fire, snow and wind: faith that withstands the elements
The men had just left morning Mass when they spotted the flames. It was the second Monday of November, and they’d been without electricity since Saturday. Torrential winds had toppled trees and power lines, so they’d been keeping warm with a big fire in their lounge.
An encounter with God will lead people back
Besides just sending their children to religious education or to Catholic schools, how can we encourage more families to come to Mass? That seems to be the most popular question I get these days. It’s a great question, but I don’t have an easy answer.
Let us never grow weary of doing right
There is a Norwegian proverb that reads: Heroism consists of hanging on one minute longer. When I was a child in elementary school one of the stories assigned to us told the story of a young boy who had fallen through the ice while skating and was left clinging, cold …
Faith means clinging to God's grace in the storm
It seems unreal that more than two weeks have passed since the effects of Hurricane Sandy were felt along the East Coast of New Jersey and beyond. The storm made landfall on a Monday and life on the barrier islands here will never be the same.
Advent & the art of anticipation
Twenty five years ago Hallmark introduced a simple device that revolutionized the mechanics of gift giving: a paper bag attached to two handles.
King Herod and the Wise Men
The Christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories ever told. It chronicles a birth from which the world records time as before or after. Moreover, it is written in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for 2000 years. This hasn’t always been for the good.
Remembering the gift of a friend and a crust of bread
THINGS MY FATHER TAUGHT MEEvery year, as Christmas approaches, I find one of my most memorable lessons happens while singing with the parish choir. Each time the lesson is different, but always unforgettable.
Say yes to new risks and new graces in 2013
Barbara Benson Keith’s wake-up call came while chatting with a fellow kindergarten teacher at the end of a school day.
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