So, how should we lighten up? Well, first of all, there should be no doubt that we are overloaded with stuff, material possessions that we do not need. Of course, this may prove to be difficult because the sales-wolves are constantly howling at our door: Buy Amazon, buy Land’s End, buy Apple, buy Google, buy from the online catalogue companies that are urging us to get the best and the latest…
It has often occurred to me, having lived on a farm as a youngster, that folks who live close to the earth have a certain natural affinity for the metaphysical, the intuitive even the spiritual aspects of life and its meaning.
It has often occurred to me that the longing for God — for the sacred — is one of humankind’s deepest primeval yearnings. We obviously know that we are not our own creation but that a divine power has made this deep mystery possible. Hence the normal response is to find words of gratitude amid an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
I happen to be writing this column shortly after gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris and opened fire, killing 12 people in what French authorities are calling the worst attack in four decades. In my unbelief, I could only say September 11 all over again: another story of the struggle between faith and death, faith and violence.
Out on the plains of North Dakota there once stood a church, a building of severe Gothic style that served my German-Catholic ancestors. It is gone now, demolished! Those who once worshipped there have gone elsewhere. I was deeply saddened when I learned of its passing, because it was on the very grounds of this modest sacred edifice that my faith took first root.
CatholicAnchor.org My friends, whether helpful or not, this monthly column is meant to lend some insight into the liturgy for Sunday. So, let us get right to it: On Sunday, Feb. 8, you are likely to hear about the biblical question of human suffering? What, actually, is the answer to a phenomenon that practically every…
At any event, Jesus, like many others, came to the Jordan River on that memorable day to receive the penitential washing offered by John. He came, like many of his fellow Jews, to heed once again the warnings of the ancient prophets and to be reminded that they and their nation stood in dire need of purification.
One thought, among many others that interested me, was their proposition that all matter in the universe, from planets to humans, is intricately bound together and has been so since that moment in infinity when God set all existence into being. In short, all things in the universe are intricately joined. We bear within us molecules of stardust.
Unless you have moved often during your lifetime, I bet somewhere, tucked in a box among your ancient personal effects, is a collection of memorabilia that identify you as Catholic. They will probably distinguish you as once registered in a specific Catholic church or school. In this box of treasures you might find certain artifacts that identified the history of your adolescence:
I suspect there may be at least some people in the world who, unlike Peter, do dream about the best that life can offer: the best food, finest home and the most expensive wine. But, as my friend Peter admitted, all that does get a bit stale after a while. There must be something deeper and more lasting in this life than the taste of wine.