(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Summer is a good time for retreats. They’re like vacations from worldly priorities, reminding us there’s only one true priority. Church retreats typically take place away from daily distractions that…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) This year’s college commencement ceremonies received more attention than they usually do. Universities across the country were beset by protests over the latest Middle-East crisis, and graduates weren’t sure they’d…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Fear breeds courage. Weakness breeds strength. Familiarity breeds Contempt. Scripture is filled with such contradictions, and Sunday’s readings are packed with them too. Sunday’s gospel is about that third one,…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) The most common mode of transportation to Hell on Earth is renouncing our faith, and its most common drivers are scientists. One former Christian in that profession described his most…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Good jobs can be challenging. But the Job we read about in this Sunday’s first reading is challenged (Jb 38:1, 8-11). In the preceding chapters of Job’s Book, a critic…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) You might think something tiny and insignificant—even if it came from something grand and majestic—would have little intrinsic value. Take a factoid, for example. Like the tiny cedar shoot and…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) The Old Testament often shows God the Father acting more like the Godfather—you know, the classic film series about the Corleone crime family. The head of this family doles out…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Moses was 80 when he gave his people the laws of God. But Sunday’s first reading from Exodus tells us that receiving and disseminating them was just part of his…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) A good witness to any important event knows details about everything they’ve seen and heard. They can answer: Through whom did you receive information about this event? With whom were…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) What is truth? In this age of lies disguised as truth, this question is more important than ever. It is both simple and difficult. Even the heroic Captain Kirk struggled…