Last November my Alma Mater, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook PA issued its glossy journal simply called “The Brook.” It featured several profiles of the new priests ordained from there the previous spring. Reading through them offered proof positive that each young man had a pivotal moment when a person or event in his […]
The pressure is on to deliver. No, I’m not thinking of the Post Office, or Fed-Ex or Amazon. In these waning days of Advent 2019, what I refer to is the pressure you or I just might be feeling about any personal promises we made this pre- Christmas season to God, or family and friends […]
Last October I was honored by an invitation to preach at a suburban Philadelphia parish for its annual Forty Hours Devotion. I was warmly received by the pastor and his staff. I soon learned from the parish secretary that she and others on the staff had all attended the parish school together. That coincidence added […]
“Tis the season” of beautifully wrapped boxes encasing treasures specially chosen by the givers. They are meant to express many things, above all love, but also friendship, forgiveness for perceived failures, or just plain joy for the present and the future. “Tis the season” for receiving gifts, presumably given by loved ones or recent acquaintances, […]
There is something forlorn about Halloween decorations still hanging around in December. We look at such a place and can only wonder if the owner left town hurriedly. Or that he or she turned seriously ill, and may be lying in a hospital somewhere. Or perhaps the owner is just lazy and out of touch. […]
History has no favorites when it comes to kings. She lets us learn about both the good and the bad among them. There is Saint Louis IX of France who, among other good works, gifted the world with the magnificent Saint-Chapelle in Paris built to house relics of the true Cross. Contrast him with Henry […]
Labeling something “an uphill battle” finds us using a well known English idiom. We know that the phrase denotes some type of task, some struggle that is difficult. Why so? Because the job in question involves all sorts of obstacles, not the least of which is opposition from other people. Playwright Jean Paul Sartre’s famous […]
It became perennial. I am referring to each new batch of high school sophomores I had to teach, with their innate ability to be, shall I say, ever so politely, “unpleasantly lacking in self-control?” For some eight years of my 17 teaching high school, I was their Religion teacher. It’s a form of “dry martyrdom” […]
“Popular wisdom” is often an oxymoron. Such is the case with something called “Short man syndrome.” There is no medical or psychological foundation for the term, but it’s used a lot. Sometimes it gets an historical nod, being called “Napoleon complex.” The stereotypical “victims” of the condition are the short people among us, whom in […]
I was once asked to teach a college semester course on prayer. That sounds simple enough a request to make of a priest. After all, we’re supposed to be the “pros”, experts in all things Catholic, veritable “answer machines” when it comes to most questions the average Catholic might ask. Well, to be honest, that […]