Imagine four people in a room. The first is a powerful dictator who rules a country. He commands armies, directs the lives of millions, and his wishes become law and are enforced. He possesses a brutal power.
Next to him sits a gifted athlete at the pinnacle of his physical prowess. This is one whose speed, strength, and endurance have few equals. His is a graceful power for which he is much admired and envied. Continue reading
The amygdala is a part of the brain, no larger than an almond. It is the center of our fear response. Such a little thing that can control so much of our life and our choices. St. Irenaeus remarked that the glory of God is the human person fully alive. Amazing! Yet perplexing is that something as small as an almond can keep us from being fully alive and radiating God’s glory into the world. Continue reading
A world of information, expert advice, and knowledge all sit at our fingertips. With all that available to us via a simple query or the use of artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT, we should have plenty of answers to our questions. But will the answers carry wisdom? I can find a world of knowledge about bees and bee stings with a few keystrokes. Wisdom lies much deeper than our quick keystroke answers. Knowledge understands bee stings, but wisdom does not disturb the hive. Continue reading
Depend, rely, trust, hope – all synonyms, but each one brings its own nuance. But all generally carry the same questions. Do we depend on a “what” or “who”? Upon what or whom do we rely? Where do we place our trust? Upon whom do we trust? And the same questions surround “hope.” What do we hope for? In whom do we hope? Continue reading
I first came upon the idea of the “project of power” as a midshipman at the US Naval Academy. It was via Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. Mahan’s theories and conclusions shaped modern geopolitical power in the 20th century. If you think about it, it was the United State’s ability to project sea power from the continental United States 6,000 miles away to the nation of Japan that was perhaps the key strategic element in winning the war in the Pacific. Even today in our current crisis in Israel and Gaza, the United States is able to project power with two carrier strike groups sent into the eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent to further hostile actions, especially from Hezbollah. Continue reading
If you are old enough you will remember the 1990s-television ad campaign for Canon cameras featuring the then very young Andre Agassi. He was a brash young tennis pro sporting long hair, a head band, and was ready to take on the world. He was flashy, a media star, a great tennis player. He was hot, happening, the icon of cool. At the end of the commercial he looks into the camera – into your soul and simply says, “Image is everything.” Continue reading
In Jesus’ parable, the King has prepared the feast – all is ready, the invitations sent … and resent, and yet amazingly, people don’t come. In our reading it says that people ignored the invitation. The underlying word in Greek means to ignore in a way that is careless – or perhaps, not being sufficiently careful with treasures with which we have been charged. Continue reading
During WWII there was a platoon of Army Rangers deployed well behind enemy lines on a critical mission during the European campaign. A single sniper bullet had killed one of the platoon members. The mission had to continue, but they just could not leave their friend as a stranger in a strange land, buried in an unmarked grave that they might never again find. They remembered a small Catholic church in the area. So, under the cover of the moonless night, they approached the church and rectory, and knocked on the door. After a while a single light came on in the house. Eventually, the door cautiously opened, and the parish priest even more cautiously greeted them. Continue reading
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted;” a familiar verse from Luke. But that doesn’t tell us what true humility is. Merriam Webster defines humility as freedom from pride or arrogance. That’s a start; it tells us what humility is not and by implication tells us what not to do in life. St. Bonaventure offered that humility is the guardian and gateway to all the other virtues. So, humility is important for being in this life and getting to the next. Continue reading
The gospel for today is about the landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. Have you ever thought about the labors of the landowner? The landowner has a foreman who he calls upon to issue the pay at the end of the day. You’d think that part of the foreman’s job was to secure laborers for the harvest. Maybe so, but in this parable of the Kingdom of Heaven, it is the landowner who labors first and most fundamentally throughout the parable. Continue reading
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