While division has always marked the human experience, "the speed, frequency and intensity with which we can now share ideas has brought us to a crisis of polarization - one that more and more threatens the future of civilization." Matthew Becklo had me from the opening of his new book, The Way of Heaven and … Continue reading Pointing Past Polarization: Matthew Becklo’s The Way of Heaven and Earth
Sometime in late April a few weeks before the close of another school year, I ask the children, gathered at my feet for a story to close their eyes. Most of them do, and it’s fun to see who’s peeking. “Imagine that you’re in your bed in the morning, and you wake up before anyone … Continue reading The Backyard Bird Chronicles: Amy Tan’s Log of Lore and Love
Back in 1927 Dorothy Day, a passionate social activist who was beginning to awaken spiritually, attended a Catholic Mass. Noting the presence of every strata of society gathered for worship in the same place, Day was especially impressed "by the egalitarian and inclusive way people gathered for the liturgy," writes Bishop Robert Barron. What impressed … Continue reading Learning to Love in the Great Crowd that Can’t be Numbered
Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan (1928-2002) was raised in a devout Vietnamese family with a memory of horrific religious persecution in the complicated history of Vietnamese Catholicism. His grandfather’s cousin “Aunt Lien” was present when, in 1885, the Catholics of Dai Phong gathered in their church to escape a raid when the church’s bamboo roof … Continue reading Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan’s “Solitary” School of Love
“Vivi is dizzy with wanting pink. The kind of pink Merilee, Miranda and Wanda have.” We’ve all been dizzy with wanting something. The opening of Pink, a picture book by children's author Nan Gregory, is completely relatable. But notice: Vivi doesn't want just any pink. Her working class parents, who live in a brown apartment … Continue reading Help Children Understand Mimetic Desire with this Perfectly Pink Picture Book
“It’s all been said before,” a charming English professor from my college days commented so often that the words surface each time I remember him. “But you can add your grain of sand," he'd add with a twinkle in his eye. Oh, those grains of sand! Where would our lives be without writers who take … Continue reading Highlights from 2024’s Reading List
My grandparents’ home held many fascinations. The gray-shingled parsonage contained old stamp albums and metal tackle boxes with bright lures bearing fierce barbed hooks. Gorgeous marbles rolled around in a battered metal tin. Real cornhusk dolls and a reedy African rattle were not withheld from curious fingers. When our family came for overnight visits, my … Continue reading Grandpa’s Watch: A New Year’s Confession
What if every word we sayNever ends or fades away,Gathers volume gathers weigh,Drums and dins us with dismaySurges on some dreadful dayWhen we cannot get awayWhelms us till we drown? Poet Malcolm Guite's words ring a solemn warning while post-election analysis, rife with bliss and blame, weighs the heart. There is so little grace in … Continue reading Whoever You Are and However You Voted, You Are (Still) My Neighbor
"Joy" is a bright, simple word. It tugs on the heart. The mere mention of joy reminds us of a deep lack in our lives. We live without joy more often than we'd like to admit. So I don't have anything against the political planner who came up with the notion of employing "joy" as … Continue reading Joy: God’s Utterly Uncontrollable Glimmer
When I'm talking with friends about a book I enjoyed, I sometimes catch myself sheepishly confessing, "Well, I listened to it," as if listening didn't count as reading. I still believe that reading a printed copy of a book, pen in hand, is the most satisfying and enriching reading experience and that reading a book … Continue reading Five (Plus Five) Favorite Audible Narrators
