(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Twenty-first century movie screens can often be windows into some of humanity’s worst depravities. By contrast, in the early 1930s, censors couldn’t abide—and therefore they cut—this one blasphemous line from…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Pop culture pumps out idols on demand, like a factory makes widgets. In either case, (widgets or idols), without quality control, the end product can do a lot of damage.…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”“Here I am,” I said; “send me!” This first-person account of a prophet-in-the-making comes from…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Prophets and the best comedians have something in common: they’re fearless truth-tellers. They’re also their own most honest critics. While on life’s stage, for them, failure to win over an…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) A recent newspaper article titled, “How to be Your Own Life Coach,” stated: “You can’t always count on friends or family members for constant support—especially now, when everyone seems buffeted…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Organizations—even church organizations—are often hobbled by letting perfect become the enemy of the good they wish to achieve. That old proverb has a more modern equivalent in faulty business management:…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) A crime wave overtaking major cities is making residents ponder the roles of their lawmakers, police and religious authorities in bringing peace back to their communities. But as the hearts…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) We sing of Bethlehem as that “little town” where Jesus was born. This Sunday’s first reading (Is 60:1-6) adds even more to its strategic importance: The riches of the sea…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) The readings for this Feast of the Holy Family help us realize that love for our own families is like a garment one grows into with the help of wisdom.…
(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Many think of the event that inspired our observation of Christmas as a beautiful myth—a symbolic way to establish peace on earth. Others believe in it as historic fact. But…