As Mary sat all alone, her thoughts wandered back over time to an event that had taken place decades earlier. In her mind’s eye, she now saw the faces of the three Kings as clearly as if she had seen them only yesterday. Casper was a pudgy, red-faced Arab
Read moreIt’s All in the Stars
A Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Have you fitted a curb to the Pleiades, or loosened the bonds of Orion? Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or guide the Bear with its train? –Job 38:31-32– Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life
Read moreAnnunciation : Visitation :: Communion : Charity
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. –Luke 1:39-40– At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and she conceived the Christ-child in
Read moreThe Brass Ring A Ballad of Love Purloined
“It’s a little brass ring. What a quaint sort of thing! What’s the story behind it?” you ask. Though the hour is late And it’s hard to relate, I’ll embark on the arduous task. ‘Twas a late April day, Perhaps early in May, She and I on the boardwalk together.
Read moreHell Is Self Chosen
But he [the elder son] was angered and would not go in. –Luke 15:28– There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in
Read moreCannibalism?
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my
Read moreMagnetic Love
In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has first loved us… –1 John 4:10– Once upon a time, a strong magnet fell in love with a slender nail. The magnet confided to the nail: “I love you. If you love me, become magnetized.”
Read moreAll Saints Day 2001
Bethlehem Catholic High School I was wondering about the difference between a virtuous person, on the one hand, and a saint on the other. What makes the difference? I was mulling over this question, and I found the answer—in, of all places, the dentist’s chair. It’s September 5th,
Read moreEloquent Oxen
Draw near to him [i.e. Jesus], a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen and honored by God. Be you yourselves as living stones, built thereon into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. –1 Peter 2:4-5– The early
Read moreFirst Things First
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but swallow the camel! –Matthew 23:24– In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, people are obsessing about unimportant things such as television shows, all the while failing to take any notice of the war that is threatening to destroy their society. That
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