The Dying Words of Saints
My newest book is out: “I Am Going . . . : Reflections on the Last Words of the Saints” (89 of them!) published by ACTA Publications. It has lovely full-page portraits of 14 of these saints. I thought you might enjoy reading the introduction . . . and be interested enough to purchase the […]
To Be or Not to Be . . . a Saint
This past week I was interviewed about saints for a podcast, so I thought I’d share some thoughts about them this week. I believe it was Leon Bloy who noted, “The only failure in life is not to be a saint.” A saint is someone who made it to heaven. Consider the alternative. Sometimes people […]
Flaws: Saints Weren’t Perfect Either
We’ve just finished a presidential campaign which was discouraging to many because both candidates were flawed. This prompted me to resurrect excerpts from an article I wrote decades ago: “Nobody is perfect.” How glibly we say that, but some of us have difficulty realizing that “nobody” includes us. Most of us, however, wake every morning […]
What’s Heaven Like?
My Aunt Arline was born with cerebral palsy. A good Lutheran couple adopted her. Operations to straighten her arms left long scars on her. Her speech was slurred, and she walked with difficulty. Sometimes her slight body was marked with ugly bruises from falls. Nevertheless she was a delightful person, married to my father’s brother, […]
No Bed of Roses for Saints
Writing a book on saints, I’ve come to realize how much they have suffered. You would think that a person who lived a good life and loved God would be blessed with a peaceful, easy life. So often this wasn’t the case. Instead of enjoying a charmed life, saints endured conflict, criticism, persecution, not to […]
Saints, Human Like Us
What is your concept of a saint? Do you think of someone pale and sickly, serious (if not downright grim), dressed in religious garb and living in caves or on clouds? Actually the saints had their feet on the ground. They were not all angels, although angels are included in the term “saints.” Saints were […]
What’s a Saint? Canonization?
In the comic strip “Wizard of Id” the king once asked a monk, “Any chance of ever being canonized, Padre?” The monk replied, “The closest I could hope for is to be shot out of a catapult.” The canonization of two contemporary popes has raised questions about sainthood. Why and how does the Church declare […]
Genealogy of Jesus, Our Spiritual Journey
This morning’s Gospel was the long genealogy of Jesus from Matthew. I wondered what the priest at St. Paschal Baylon Church would find to say about this rather boring passage. Father Paul surprised us by presenting a unique idea. He suggested drawing up the genealogy of our spiritual life. This would make an excellent prayer […]
Advice from the Saints
In honor of the Feast of All Saints, I thought I would post twelve of their words of wisdom. After all, the saints are our heroes. They lived life successfully and know how to do it. One of my favorites from St. Turibius: “Christ called himself the truth not the custom.” Some of these quotations […]
Who Is Mary Virginia Merrick?
Through my involvement with a diocesan saint project, I became acquainted with Mary Virginia Merrick. This woman, who was born in Washington, D.C. in 1866, is an extraordinary example of what a Christian is capable of despite all odds. Her cause for canonization was opened in 2011. At the age of fourteen Mary Virginia suffered […]