HOME THOUGHTS FROM ‘HOME’ 6 THE END OF THE ROAD             Sabbatical time is winding down; I’ll be “back in the saddle” Wednesday morning after Labor Day.  The break has been beneficial both in terms of additional flexibility in prayer time, in writing, and in...

HOME THOUGHT FROM ‘HOME’ 4 IS THERE ROOM…? I remember sitting in an outdoor series of benches in Jerusalem, in front of what is called the “Garden Tomb” or “Gordon’s Tomb.”  It is just outside the Damascus Gate, and it was a 19th century attempt to shift attention...

HOME THOUGHTS FROM ‘HOME’ 3             I have arrived at the rectory of Most Holy Redeemer in Evergreen Park.  The journey here from the seminary in Mundelein was interesting and perhaps 45 minutes longer than it might have been, but I chose the way to arrive....

THE SCAPEGOAT AND THE LAMB OF GOD Being a goat may not always be a bad thing, in spite of the press it has received thanks to the famous parable of the sheep and goats at the end of Matthew 25.  Yes, goats represent those who fail to live according to the Corporal...

HOME THOUGHTS FROM “HOME” 2             If a sabbatical is supposed to be about renewal, and if renewal can take many forms, for me it means a time for praying, reading, writing, thinking, and a bit of golf.  Sometimes these can be structured and organized; sometimes,...

As you could see from the quote I used at the end of my last essay, the following is a meditation on the reality and practical applications of love.  Here, Pope Francis is following the lead of Pope St John Paul II, especially in the latter’s encyclical Laborem...

Chapter Two of the encyclical is titled “A Stranger On The Road.”  It comprises paragraphs 56-86.  I am suggesting that the rest of the document is an unpacking of the implications of this chapter, a meditation on the parable of the Good Samaritan....

This is a long encyclical letter; it’s why I’d like to summarize it for you and pull some important quotes for your consideration.  But first, I want to make a couple of clarifications. The title (translated brothers all) was attacked in the press (before the...

…is the seedbed of the Church, according to the venerable 3rd century North African Father Tertullian.  And this coming Saturday we will remember one of the most important of the early martyrs—one who really made the mark of martyrdom the “standard of excellence”...

Saturday is October 3; Sunday is October 4.  News flash, right?  But on the evening of the 3rd (which is liturgically the beginning of the 4th), in 1226, at the Porziuncola at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Francis of Assisi died....