· 14 July 2008 | 226 words
There is a line from a William Stafford poem: "It's for the best," my mother said, "Nothing can ever be wrong for anyone truly good." And then I look at the suffering Jesus endured, and the suffering of all people....
· 3 July 2008 | 633 words
Today is the feast day for Saint Thomas the Apostle. I chose Thomas (or maybe he chose me) for my patron saint for my baptism/confirmation a few years ago. I have an affinity for Thomas, partly because it took me...
· 8 June 2008 | 306 words
I discovered an old interview with Father Gabriele Amorth on the internet concerning Satan and exorcism. It is an interesting article, but this particular piece near the end jumped out at me. How does the Devil go about seducing men...
· 11 May 2008 | 55 words
I think Walker Percy, in Lost in the Cosmos, sums up the situation between man and God via Jesus: If you're a big enough fool to climb a tree and like a cat refuse to come down, then someone who...
· 2 May 2008 | 202 words
From Br. Joseph -- What is a person? Classical Christian theology and philosophy defines a person as one who has the ability to know, to love, and to choose (to will). This is the image of God in which we...
· 21 April 2008 | 1054 words
From Br. Joseph -- We have all seen pictures of the crucifixion. There is one particular picture, a bit different from most, which I want to describe. The viewpoint of the picture is from above the Cross, a little higher...
· 22 March 2008 | 28 words
O wondrous exchange, eternal life is promised to us by the humility of the Lord, who bowed himself down to our pride. -- St. Augustine, Confessions Thank You....
· 14 February 2008 | 26 words
O wondrous exchange, eternal life is promised to us by the humility of the Lord, who bowed himself down to our pride. -- Saint Augustine, Confessions...
· 12 December 2007 | 417 words
From Br. Joseph -- The young boy asked, "Why Christmas?" His father replied, "You know, it's December 25th, the season when everyone puts up Christmas trees and decorates everything in red and green. We hang Christmas lights on the house...
· 30 October 2007 | 258 words
From Br. Joseph -- Hope keeps faith alive, and faith rekindles hope when all seems lost. At one point in Hannah Hurnard's allegorical book of the spiritual journey, "Hind's Feet on High Places", the protagonist is having a particularly tough...
· 23 October 2007 | 384 words
From Br. Joseph -- St. Jerome, best known as the translator of the Bible into Latin from Greek and Hebrew, is reported to have had a vision of the child Jesus. In the vision, Jesus asked Jerome why he had...
· 16 October 2007 | 401 words
From Br. Joseph -- Most people are familiar with the poem "Footprints in the Sand" by Mary Stevenson. Here's a different set of footprints (author unknown)... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Now imagine you and the Lord walking...
· 2 September 2007 | 780 words
The term Body of Christ means three things: 1) the actual physical body of Jesus; 2) the Church (with a capital "C") because we as individual persons are church, parts of the Body, branches on the Vine; and 3) the Eucharist, the Blessed...
· 1 September 2007 | 637 words
I don't remember where I read it, but this one line has been stuck in my mind for the last few weeks. It was something along the lines of "gorging on emotions." The idea of feeding upon my emotions is...
· 28 July 2007 | 358 words
The Beatitudes are linked together. They do not stand separately. The poor in spirit, those detached from the desire for worldly goods, must necessarily also be the pure in heart, since their heart is not split and set on many...
· 24 July 2007 | 175 words
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux asked Jesus what was His greatest unrecorded suffering. The Lord answered, "I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound, which was more painful than the others,...
· 11 July 2007 | 548 words
It has been well over a year, maybe two, since I started wearing a wearing a small crucifix on a chain around my next. I wanted it close to my heart, so I wore it underneath my shirt. Sometime after...
· 2 June 2007 | 202 words
My deepest desire and most longing want is to see the face of Jesus Christ. Based on one of the Beatitudes, my daily prayer is for God to purify my heart so that I may see Him, see Him in...
· 27 May 2007 | 303 words
Breath is as essential attribute of one's person, whose existence we may only infer through other media: the sight of our chest rising and falling, the sound of air rushing into our sinuses, the disturbance of the atmosphere near...
· 7 May 2007 | 339 words
Listening to the song "Epiphany" by Staind on the iPod. The music is loud enough to drown out the background noise. At this line, I drift off... But I know I'll do the right thing If the right thing is...
· 4 May 2007 | 158 words
From Reference.com: The most common translation of Pantocrator is "Almighty" or "All-powerful." In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek words for "all" and the noun "strength" (κρατος). This is often understood in terms of potential...
· 10 April 2007 | 14 words
On the thin border between faith and doubt walks Christ, calling all to trust....
· 5 March 2007 | 142 words
Christ on the cross bows his head, Waiting for you, That he may kiss you, His arms are outstretched, That he may embrace you, His hands are open, That he may enrich you, His body spread out, That he...
· 8 February 2007 | 64 words
To see joy in another is to see Christ in them. To see sorrow in another is also to see Christ in them. I don't want to see Jesus as sorrow, but He is there. I cannot deny Him. It...
· 17 December 2006 | 73 words
As an iHermit, I minimize my time on the internet, but I still visit a couple sites like PostSecret. This postcard was posted last week: The emailed comment posted underneath this postcard says: I believe that a new religion could...
· 13 November 2006 | 757 words
Father, I don't know. I don't quite understand it all. I read Saint Catherine of Siena and her words are harsh for sinners. She says in her own style, and in the style of her times, to wake up idiots!...
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us