VOCATION Deep calls out to Deep, here to there, the center, everywhere a wire strung thrumming above thundering cataracts heart grown pure groaning trembles on Spirit-wings soaring panting halted now discovering this yearning behold, the echo of its True Love, calling – 7/25/17
ROSARY (For Mom) In the stillness between beads and breaths you, at times, may catch the distant groans the yearning sighs of the unseen yoked in solitude gently drawn through index and thumb the next becomes the present bead soul-bearing seed of voices dropped deep within the soil’s dark night to open inside-out climb then … More Rosary
Yesterday’s white mantel is today slush shackling the dusk-hour flow Six days till Christmas things to do no time for this or to see what’s out the window to the left Traffic halts abruptly in both directions Whatever the cause it won’t do, and presently comes into view A trio of geese waddling and wide … More Urgency Interrupted
“What a difference a day makes.” That was certainly the case when, in roughly twenty-four hours, Kiev went from flashpoint for civil war to a field in which the seed of freedom had a chance, finally, to take root. Changes are following rapidly — most conspicuously, in Crimea. And while some are perilous, all are … More Ukraine in the Tomb
Politics aside, it’s hard to deny that the images beamed to the world from the opening of the Sochi Games were anything short of stunning. Of course, removing the Olympics from political context is a challenge steeper than any we’ll see in its events. And in the case of Sochi, the context is limned with … More Crucifixion in Kiev
Jim was a Jesuit. It’s how we met: he a new, puzzle of a priest; I, a pip-squeaking wince of a novice. It was August 1978, and I declare with utter gratitude that from then on, ours experienced none of the lapses long-lived relationships often do. Jim was a Jesuit, which is to say, … More Jim Was a Jesuit
A few nights ago, I woke with an unpleasant start, confused by unusual physical discomfort, and a surge of panic that the hour you know not”was upon me. “Is this what Dad experienced,” I wondered, “as he began to slip irretrievably into it ?” The prospect that my father knew what was happening yet was … More The Death of Death’s Long Life
Once upon a time, in the English village of Ockham, a lad named William began an adventure in philosophy that left impressions on the wider world. Best remembered is a rule for problem-solving that’s come down to us as, “Ockham’s Razor.” It goes like this: when confronted with a puzzle, the simplest explanation, if not … More The Razor’s Edge of the Constitution
This Sabado Gigante of a primary season has seen no lack of comparisons between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. In the literal sense intended, they are are frivolous and unhelpful. For starters, apart from vulgarized marketing, The Donald is the proverbial man without a plan, while Der Fuhrer, from Lebensraum to Final Solution, never left … More MEIN TRUMP?!
As a child, tales of saintly heroism could launch my imagination to the clouds. As a Jesuit novice, I continued daydreaming about the glory of martyrdom. Headlines over the past few months, however, have chastened that vanity. At some point, a Christian will likely come across Tertullian’s dictum, “The blood of the martyrs is the … More How Martyrs Expose Theological Lies
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