One day, people went about their business, sharp and alert, and then, the very next day, the streets and roads were filled with slack-jawed zombies peering into little screens, tapping compulsively into little keypads, oblivious to anyone and anything around them....
Insight into life's deeper questions – suffering, the quest for God, and one's place in the cosmos – are often handled more effectively in stories than in learned debates or arcane texts. A story of a young man adrift in a lifeboat with a man-eating tiger might be seen as an unlikely instrument for insight into these questions but the recent Ang Lee film The Life of Pi, based on the novel by Yann Martel, is filled with surprises and food for thought....
For most people, Pope Benedict's resignation was a surprise, and not seen as a possibility. Or at least, it was a very remote one. Generally, the Church's tradition has not favoured papal resignations, though church law provides for such a possibility. Historically to our knowledge, four popes have resigned, the last one in 1415. Thus, the pope's resignation is all the more surprising. Two main questions arise: Who is papabile? And what qualities should the cardinals look for in a new pope?...
Three things confront you in daily life in Ukraine, from conversations to projects to state government. First is the complicated drag of the Soviet legacy; second, the irreversible integration into the modern, globalized world; third, the deep quest for spirituality. So, let's buy a house, open a centre for refugees, and give an eight-day retreat to see how these aspects play out....
At the age of 65, after 48 years in the Jesuits, for the first time in my life I have nothing to do. Or, to put it more correctly, there is nothing I have to do. Being on sabbatical for a full year (August through July), I am experiencing for the first time in my life since childhood the almost complete absence of obligation. No required activities, no expectations, no formal duties, nothing!...
May no one blame me that I write so much about insignificant people, sisters, brothers, relatives, neighbours, burghers, peasants, youth, about domestic, simple, and childish things, and about myself. For who will do it if we don't? In the Bible, in the Roman histories and chronicles, in the Holy Scriptures, in the seven liberal arts, and in the other arts and philosophers and poets once cannot really find us. Therefore, if my book and records are preserved and continued, our descendants will also know something to say about us; otherwise, it will be as if we had never been....
May no one blame me that I write so much about insignificant people, sisters, brothers, relatives, neighbours, burghers, peasants, youth, about domestic, simple, and childish things, and about myself. For who will do it if we don't? In the Bible, in the Roman histories and chronicles, in the Holy Scriptures, in the seven liberal arts, and in the other arts and philosophers and poets once cannot really find us. Therefore, if my book and records are preserved and continued, our descendants will also know something to say about us; otherwise, it will be as if we had never been....
Leviticus 11:44 -- For I am the Lord, your God; sanctify yourselves therefore, be holy, for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16 -- As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written "You shall be holy, for I am holy.' Catechism of Catholic Church 2013 – "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity." All are called to holiness: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." [LG 40-2; Mt. 5:48)...
A few Catholic saints were physicians. One of the better known is the evangelist Luke, the namesake for many health institutions. Another physician-saint is St. René Goupil, the first of the eight Canadian Martyrs who are celebrated in Canada on September 26....
