I hate traffic! The other night as I was wedged in like a sardine on Interstate 94, I noticed the license plate in front of me was my brother-in-law’s initials, CPW. So, I thought, “I should say a little prayer…
Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
On Emperors and Beanie Babies
Almost everyone knows of the fabled emperor that paraded the streets in his undergarments, believing he was adorned in the finest of cloth that only the foolish could not see. Lest he admit being a fool, he feigned witnessing the…
Jekyll and Hyde Morality
Am I a good person? This is a deep question of self reflection that is at the heart of the moral life. It is also one of the most difficult to answer because the answer is covered in limited perspective…
Witnessing vs. Wasting Time
Last month I wrote about a chance encounter with a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses and my sudden appreciation for the usefulness of the Nicene Creed and other memorized prayers. Christian LeBlanc asked this question, “Curious if they accepted any data…
Think Like God
Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. (Job 37:14, KJV) Have you ever tried to count all the stars in the sky? You may even get to a couple thousand and someone interrupts…
Be Prepared to Share the Truth
I had an odd experience the other evening at a program in church. The topic was Moral Decision Making and was led by the pastor. Things were moving along quite nicely and we were getting ready to tend the discussion…
A Lifestyle of Thanksgiving
Readings for October 13, 2013: Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Leprosy is a dreadful thing anywhere, anytime. But in the ancient Near East, it was a particularly heavy burden to bear since it meant complete social isolation. You could, of…
Blessed Isidore de Loor: Patron for Those with Cancer
Porta Fidei, the papal encyclical which opened the Year of Faith, tells us in paragraph 15: “The life of Christians knows the experience of joy as well as the experience of suffering. How many of the saints have lived in…
Scabby People and That Grim-Faced Nun
One night decades ago I was watching TV; that nun, Mother Teresa, was on the Tonight Show. I knew she’d won a Nobel prize, took care of scabby people all day, and looked grim as cancer. What could they possibly…
Evangelization by Sequins
I called her The-Lady-Who-Sits-in-the-Pew-in-Front-of-Us. She was there every Sunday at the 10:15 a.m. Mass, about eight rows from the altar on the pulpit side of the church. Whether I ever saw her face I can’t recall. What I do remember,…