Columns
Spreading the Fire of God’s Love
I am excellent at doing house chores like cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, or picking up the living room. My bride and my former roommates would likely disagree, but when I […]
Columns Archive
Columns
Christ Purifies Us – Heals Us – from the Damage of Sin
Almost 1,000 years ago, the great Benedictine abbey of Cluny in France, situated roughly two-thirds of the way from Paris to Geneva, was a major center of learning, piety, caring […]
Columns
The Theology of Lullabies
When I was a child, I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world because I got four lullabies sung to me every night – one each from my […]
Columns
An Unsinkable Faith
It was a Monday afternoon in November of 1975 when Debbie Champeau got the call. The 17-year-old, a senior at St. Pius XI in Milwaukee, left school immediately, taking two […]
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To Embrace God Himself
As we approach the end of the liturgical year, something that is worth pondering anew is the role of the word of God in our lives. Often, we can come […]
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Strive to Please God; Only Foolish Seek Earthly Rewards
The Book of Sirach provides this weekend’s first Scriptural reading. The book is part of the group of biblical writings classified by scholars collectively as the Wisdom Literature. The Wisdom […]
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Shut Up and Listen
The pub we were sitting in one evening was quiet enough to hear other people talking, and I heard my young friend at the other end of the long table […]
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Silence in a Noisy World
We live in a noisy world. I’m not just talking about rush hour traffic or the planes that make an approach to the Philadelphia airport far above my head at […]
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Beauty as Truth?
Why do we suffer? How does God allow it? Where is God when we hurt? These are typical questions of theodicy: the attempt to account for God’s goodness in the […]
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In Prayer, We Are Called to Be Humble and to Trust in God
The Book of Exodus is the source of this weekend’s first reading. One of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, its concepts are attributed to Moses himself. As […]
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Hatred and Learning from History
Why do we want to learn about the dark times, the ugly times, in our country? It is a relevant question today, as museum displays and park exhibits are being […]
Columns
Call Upon Me
The other day, my phone rang. When I picked up, the friend on the other end opened with an apology. Instead of “Hello” or “How are you?” or “Is this […]