In Fort Washington, the sky is gray on the afternoon of the last day of the year 2020. In our backyard, the towering maple trees and the not so tall apple, cherry, and peach trees look like skeletons, their once lush green leaves, now dried out and curled up, cluttering the ground, Winter, as usual, is dreary, even without snow, which has come barely in sprinkles the past four years in the Metro DC area. The bleakness is tempered by the fir and pine trees, luxuriant in their

Saint Thomas á Becket, who the Church celebrates on December 29, brings to mind another Saint Thomas, a countryman of his, Thomas More. Both preferred martyrdom rather than bow to the whims of two kings, both named Henry, whom they had served as royal Chancellors. Saint Thomas á Becket, an archbishop, was murdered in his cathedral while saying Mass by knights loyal to Henry II. Saint Thomas More was sent to the gallows for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as the Head of th

Obviously, our celebration of Christmas this year is different from past Christmases because of a deadly virus, Covid 19. To avoid the spread of the virus and to hasten the end of this plague, the government has imposed restrictions on us: first - social distancing, second - wearing face masks, and third - observing hand hygiene, In reflection, we see that these restrictions (call them imposed precautions) are the exact opposites of what the event of Christmas is all about,

Or: The Story of the Battle between Good and Evil At time's beginning, the First Man ever created woke up in a beautiful Garden and found himself face to face with the One Who Brought Him Forth from Nothingness (the Creator). It was the First Good News. Later, the First Man felt incomplete in spite of the myriad of animals and plants, and flowers and fruit trees around him in the Garden. So the One Who Brought Him Forth from Nothingness put him to sleep, and when he woke up,

It is a sad event when someone you love deeply and loves you as much no longer knows or recognizes you, and worse if that loved one does not want to see your face again. This happened to a friend of mine recently. He was distraught when his aged mother first showed clear signs of dementia. One day she announced frantically that she had lost millions of paper currency from her purse. When he pointed out that such an amount of money couldn’t fit in her small purse, she accused

It was 38 degrees F today -- near freezing. But my wife and I braved the cold to drive to St. Mary’s Basilica in Alexandria for the noon Mass. We were on time but the only available space was at the last pew. Every other pew was blocked off because of the social distancing restrictions. Right in front of us sat a familiar homeless man. Beside him was a large backpack containing all his belongings. Everyone attending the daily noon Mass at St. Mary’s always sees him sitting in

When I started learning to play the violin while in high school in the mid-50s, the instrument I used belonged to a cousin of my mom who was a violin teacher. At the time, I did not wonder why he decided to part with it. (Professional violinists and aficionados consider their violins an inseparable treasure, even like a wife.) But looking back, I guess he wanted someone in the family to inherit or carry on his love for music through his beloved instrument, or to make sure it