Aug
27
St. Monica & St. Augustine
August 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Today and tomorrow, we remember the lives of St. Monica and her son, St. Augustine.
There are two amazing things about their story. The first is that St. Monica spent her whole married and maternal life praying for the conversion of her pagan husband and her delinquent, wayward son. She kept the faith and hope needed [...]
Aug
25
Responsible for Other Kids?
August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
How responsible are we for other kids?
I ask the question because of the small creek behind my yard. Flowing into this creek is a a culvert with a big enough hole for a kid to get into trouble. The creek tends to fill up in heavy rains. It’s a real enough danger (at least to me) [...]
Aug
21
How’s Your Heart?
August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
How’s your heart? Not your blood pressure, pulse rate, or VO2 Max rate; but the spiritual soundness of your heart.
I starting pondering this question after reading the first reading from today’s Mass (Ezekiel 36):
“I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you [...]
Aug
19
Olympic Dreams & Nightmares
August 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Every Olympics has them - the stories of dreams and nightmares. Today brought three of them.
This is the dream come true from U.S. freestyle wrestler, Henry Cejudo.
This is the nightmare for U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones and 400M Sanya Richards.
All three went through life experiences worthy of wearing the gold - only one actually did (although [...]
Aug
18
Respect for Others
August 18, 2008 | 4 Comments
Last night, I worked the Bengals game. Our Knights of Columbus Council has a concession stand with two other councils that we man and we get a cut of the money we take in for our respective groups. Most of the concession stands at Paul Brown Stadium are manned by one community group or another and [...]
Aug
14
St. Max
August 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Today is the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe. He is my parish’s patron saint and there is a big stain glass window of him in our church. So I’ve done quite a bit of studying his life and praying to him and, through the years, I’ve grown in devotion to this rather remarkable man.
Most people only know him [...]
Aug
11
The Most Meaningful Eucharist
August 11, 2008 | 2 Comments
Fr. Dan is the pastor at St. Susanna’s in Mason, Ohio. I don’t belong to this parish but I go there occasionally for weekday Mass. Last night, my family went there for Sunday night Mass. And I was part of one of the most meaningful liturgies of my life.
Fr. Dan has ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I [...]
Aug
7
Observations
August 7, 2008 | 1 Comment
Some observations on this, the perfect Midwestern summer night -
- There is nothing better than an unsolicited hug and “I Love You, Daddy” from your little girl;
- It’s not a coincidence when you run into an old friend whom you have always known as a good and decent person;
- There is nothing that sounds more beautiful than “Celtic Woman”;
- [...]
Aug
6
Transfiguration
August 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I have often wondered what it was like to be an apostle following Christ. The healings, miracles and profound daily wisdom must have had an incredible jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, did I just see that quality to them.
So what did Peter, James & John think of the Transfiguration? They saw Moses and Elijah. They heard our Father. They saw the [...]
Aug
3
Ryan Hall
August 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The Olympics start on Friday, but the guy I’m most intrigued by won’t compete until the 24th when the Men’s Marathon is run.
Ryan Hall, is a 20’s-something long-distance runner who last year stepped up to half-marathons and marathons. He made his marathon debut in London and ran a sub-2:10 (which is outstanding). He blew away [...]
