Fr Joseph EsperA poem was once written about a tragic situation in which five people unnecessarily froze to death around a campfire one winter. It was a bitterly cold night, and there was no shelter available. The fire was dying out and needed to be replenished...
In 1774—two years before our nation’s founding—a famous American woman was born in New York City; twenty years later she married another well-known New Yorker. Both were Episcopalians, the religion to which many prominent, upper-class Americans...
The Society of Jesus, the religious order known as the Jesuits, was founded in the 16th century by St. Ignatius of Loyola. After St. Ignatius himself, probably the best-known Jesuit was St. Francis Xavier, one of the greatest missionaries of all...
Saint Teresa of Calcutta, commonly known to everyone as Mother Teresa, was not only a very holy woman; as founder of the Missionaries of Charity, she was also quite capable as an organizer and administrator. On one occasion she arranged for some of...
A married couple, Ardith and Jerry, had many problems in their marriage, but were trying to work things out after being separated for over a year. During the separation Ardith had met a man named Bob, who lived in a city four hours away, and she...
Once upon a time two very good and holy men who lived in the same town died on the exact same day. They had never met during their lifetimes—for one was quite poor, and had lived in the ghetto, or rundown section of town, and the other was very...
One of the seven deadly sins is envy, or jealousy, and it can be a very unattractive attitude because it often involves an element of hypocrisy. There was an instance in which the actors in a play were extremely jealous of each other’s success, with...
Chances are you’ve heard of the famous Passion Play of Oberammergau in Germany. Back in 1633, one hundred villagers died in an epidemic of the bubonic plague, and the people vowed that if God would spare the rest of them, they would reenact the...
Many centuries ago there was a wealthy pagan who attributed his success in life to the different idols, or false gods, he worshipped. In his home he had a shrine to them, with a large, almost life-sized statue of the chief pagan god, and half-a...
I think many priests would say that 2002 was one of the worst years of their life—for that was the year in which the clergy sexual abuse scandal became widely known. In 2002 I learned first- hand that it’s possible to feel ashamed and guilty over...