Going the Extra Mile (Especially in Lent)
This morning I saw a commercial for a car inviting people to “go the extra mile.” Now that is a good slogan for a Christian. After all, Jesus taught us disciples, “If anyone wants to sue you and take you coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, […]
Halloween or the Hallowed?
In the excitement of creating elaborate Halloween displays, designing costumes, carving pumpkins, and buying enough candy to last the night, the original meaning of Halloween might be forgotten or overlooked—except at schools where children dress up as saints! Halloween is the eve before the feast of All Saints. Hallowed means holy, as in the Our […]
Are There Miracles Today?
Each year a team of medical professionals from my parish, St. Dominic, spend a week in a poor village in El Salvador screening and treating more than 1,000 patients. On their visit last month, to their dismay there was only enough lidocaine for local anesthesia for five or six patients. However, each time the doctors […]
To Be a Saint or Saintly Sinner
Since we are approaching the feast of the halloweds (the saints), I’ve been musing about sainthood. One of my favorite prayers as a teenager was, “O God Who art all powerful, make me a saint.” Some people exclaim, “I’m no saint,” yet we are all called to be saints. As French novelist Leon Bloy pointed […]
Saints Among Us
As editor of the Christ Our Life series, I once spent almost three months living in the Shelter of God’s Love in Chicago. This was a home for people with disabilities who have no other safe place to go. The home was the realized dream of Rosemary Koenig, a fiesty, petite, white-haired woman. Rosemary’s husband […]