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Thursday of this week is the 4th of July, a date of historical significance because it marks the birth of our nation. It was on that day in 1776 that representatives of the thirteen colonies signed a document declaring themselves to be a free and independent nation. Most of us are familiar with the contents of that document. We, of course, know it as “The Declaration of Independence.” In clear and concise language, it avows that the colonies are no longer connected with or controlled by the British Empire. That part of the story is common knowledge, but I wonder […]

We live in a world where things move along with a certain regularity.  Night follows day, and day follows night.  The seasons unfold at about the same pace year after year.  Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter are as predictable as the cycles of the sun.  In the midst of all that steadiness, it is easy to become prisoners of the routine and forget just how wonderful life really is. Thornton Wilder wrote a play about that which he called “Our Town”.  It is the story about Emily who lived in Grover’s Corners until she dies in her early  twenties.  Then […]

                Commonly, we think of our Christian faith as a personal relationship between the individual and God.  It is that, but it is not exclusively that.  We need to remember that faith is also a family affair.                  We came from homes, we live in homes, and some look forward to establishing their own homes.  This means that the success and happiness of our individual lives are deeply dependent upon the fate and fortunes of the family.                 For that matter, so is the future civilization.  What happens in the home in large […]

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker: “If it feels good, do it!”? In many ways, that slogan characterizes the approach of so many people today.  A stream of books, articles, commentary, advertisements, and dialogue points to feelings as the basic measure of happiness, as the truest aspect of one’s true self.  Feelings are continually represented as central to self-fulfillment and the development of one’s potential.   A popular psychiatrist-author states the “modern” perspective in no uncertain terms:  “Being in touch with your feelings is the only way you can ever become your highest self, the only way you can […]

Here we are in the month of June.  It is a perfect month to foster and perhaps reestablish our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus since we will celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, June 7th.  The words spoken to St. Margaret Mary are so well directed to our own times: “Behold this heart which has loved you so much and which received in return, for the most part, only ingratitude, contempt, irreverence and sacrilege.”  I   believe that the greatest loss of our day is the loss of a personal relationship with the Lord and following […]