Something bittersweet happens amidst the blood and guts that fill the nightly local news reports about murder and accident victims. Eulogies. These are stories of ordinary people who never made headlines before, but in their sudden exit from this life we discover how many lives they touched—and touched deeply. Hearing and reading their stories in […]

Many 4- and 5-year-old girls were captivated by the movie “Frozen.” It’s the story of a girl whose newly discovered power to create ice and snow nearly kills her little sister, causing the big sister to isolate herself from the rest of the world. One of my co-workers has a four-year-old daughter who was traumatized […]

Only two years ago, U.S. customs and border officials seized counterfeit goods worth around $1.26 billion. By 2016 counterfeiting is expected to be a $1.7 trillion industry. Human beings have thrived on phoniness since Adam and Eve donned fig leaves to hide their humanity from each other. Their sin taught them shame. All they wanted […]

This Sunday’s gospel made me think of Homer Simpson. Picture this paunchy, self-satisfied ignoramus sitting in his man cave watching football, and his wife comes in and says “Ned Flanders invited us over for a get together with some friends and neighbors.” “D’Oh!,” says Homer, “I want to watch this game! Besides, I hate that […]

The word of God is a powerful seed. The Bible is the history of its cultivation and the distribution of its fruit. It’s also a manual offering instruction on how to keep that crop viable. Humanity has not always been very good at managing God’s crops, and the readings for this Sunday’s mass acknowledge that […]