A friend once told me of being invited to the White House. As part of a group that would have an audience with the president, his invitation also included specific protocols that would need to be followed. The list included items such as when and...
One evening, while teaching a group of college students, I explored an idea set forth by the 18th-century Scottish philosopher, Adam Smith. In hisย Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nationsย (1776), Smith noted that each of us have...
I was exhausted. Thirty years ago, after having been coaxed into running for a political office, I had just spent a year campaigning. On election evening, the votes were tallied and the good people of the town where I lived rendered their collective...
The French Catholic theologian, Blaise Pascal, once remarked that “man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.” During this global pandemic, it is true that we’ve been required to think on our feet and respond to the...
The scripture readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ focus on covenants. In the Book of Exodus (24:3-8), at Mt. Sinai, Moses sprinkled blood upon the Israelites, a symbol of Godโs desire to make them part of His โbloodโ...
St. Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians (4:8), sets out the path of virtue: โWhatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything...
Each Good Friday, we Christians ask ourselves: How would we have behaved? Would we have been among the faithful women remaining as Jesus breathed his last? Or would we, like many of Jesusโ closest friends, have fled the scene? While none of us know...
On Good Friday, we arrive at Calvary. With darkened skies, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels) note those present: the faithful women; chief priests; scribes and elders; and the two thieves who have been crucified (one...
