Give God What He Wants for Christmas

There’s a moment in this Sunday’s first reading (2 SM 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16) where King David is sitting in his palace, feeling happy that his enemies are under control and that he’s in a pretty good place in life.…

Spiritual Clothing Wears Well

One of the trendy questions asked of female celebrities arriving at awards ceremonies is “Who are you wearing?” This is a fancy way of asking, “Who fashioned your gown?” It’s kind of an ego deflator, considering the questioner seems more…

Called Out of Our Wilderness

Food manufacturers analyze their products before releasing them to the public, identifying any impurities that don’t belong. That’s what the end of the world will be like—except with us it’s our purities that will get all the attention. God will…

The Sheep will outrun the Sleek

The ISIS terrorists are determined to ride the pale horse of the apocalypse to its finish line—and to trample as many “infidels” as they can along the way. They intend to cross that line as victors, delivering eternal death without…

Smile, you’re on Candid Camera

“Captain gets 36 years for deserting ship.” That headline in this week’s news stream defined the life of one man in a single snapshot. Snapshots are how human beings judge each other. This captain of a South Korean ferry was…

Hell’s Tenants Watch Judge Judy 24/7

If you’ve ever channel surfed in the afternoon, chances are you found an episode of Judge Judy. Chances are also good that the case you landed on involved a landlord vs. a tenant from hell. These cases usually have a…

Celebrate the Extraordinarily Ordinary

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…

Empathy, the Spiritual Super Power

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…