On the morning of August 9, 1945, physician and radiology professor Takashi Nagai was preparing a lecture in his office in the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. Just a few days before, on hearing news of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Nagai had sent his children Matoko and Kayana to live with their grandmother four … Continue reading An “Absolute Refusal to Hate”: Takashi Nagai and A Song for Nagasaki
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson's beloved comic strip, once depicted Calvin in a philosophical stance, opining to his stuffed tiger that “today’s TV-reared audience is hip and sophisticated.” “This stuff doesn’t affect us,” the impish Calvin continues. “We can separate fact from fiction. We understand satire and irony. We’re detached and jaded viewers who aren’t … Continue reading Favorite Reads of 2023: Four Unexpected Delights
I like open options. Who doesn’t? Even in my spiritual life. Sure, the Bible gives us a moral roadmap for life's big temptations, but once we accept its framework as truth, a zillion miniscule options are still a matter of choice. A menu of spiritual options presents itself each year the week or so before … Continue reading A Little Litany for Lenten Temptations: Choose Life
The anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade provides a yearly opportunity to consider the aftermath of the landmark Supreme Court decision. The court's ruling has made a political battleground of human life's earliest stages. Abortion is the most intimate of issues, piercing the into heart of our deepest questions concerning freedom, … Continue reading When Defending the Right to Life, Choose Beauty. Choose Love.
The 500th anniversary of the Reformation has concluded. The year provided many occasions for dialog, discussion and defense of each side of the Catholic-Protestant divide. I've been an invested observer, having been received into the Catholic Church over a decade ago after a lifetime as an active Evangelical, but I'm unqualified to spar with theologians … Continue reading Luther and the Little Way: A Gradual Gift from a Catholic Conversion
"We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it." Madeline L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on … Continue reading Madeline L’Engle: Show the Lovely Light
