

Of Ocean Gems and Desert Flowers
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste...


Homecomings and Reunions
It has been ages since I attended a reunion of my high school (now a college) class. Many of my classmates have either passed away and...


We Will Also Be Transfigured
Last Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, the Church invited us to look at Jesus in the desert where he was tempted three times by the...


"Thanatopsis"
One of the classic poems we learned in high school English Literature class is one by the great American poet, William Cullen Bryant,...


"He Might Be Christ"
Monsignor Nestor, who was pitching in for our pastor, recounted a story of how a man knocked at the parish office door to ask for...


We Don't Have Unlimited Time
When St. Augustine was a young man, he had a wayward prayer: “Lord, make me chaste (sexually pure) – but not yet.” Luckily for him, he...


Imitating Christ -- A Tall Order?
Someone commented on a previous blog ("Imitation") that although the idea of having a model in life is a good one, imitating Christ is a...


"Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth"
Book 1 Chapter 1 of the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a'Kempis HE WHO follows Me, walks not in darkness," says the Lord (John 8:12). By...


Imitation
In minor seminary, in a subject called "Poetry" we were taught how to write good prose and poetry (mostly prose). In a subject called...


‘I Am on a Pilgrimage Towards Home’
First, it was Pope John Paul II who mumbled at his death bed: "Let me go to the house of the Father." He was declared a saint several...