Saint "Thank-God"

How can an almost unknown ancient saint with the odd name Deogratias ("Thanks be to God"), who died in North Africa in 457 AD, be a model for us in our world today? In reading a brief account of his life in Butler's Lives of the Saints: New Full Edition (1995) for January, I was...

The Holy Family, just a threesome? NOT!

We are all familiar with pictures of the Holy Family. Some are great works of art, some are pious holy cards, some are sweetly sentimental, and some are just cute or even silly. And they are all wrong! When we think of the Holy Family, we think of Jesus, Mary and Joseph – in a...

Retirement

This story on page 3 of today's LA Times caught my eye: Americans are retiring to Vietnam, for cheap healthcare and a decent standard of living More than 58,000 U.S. service members died in the [Vietnam] war, and since it ended in 1975, innumerable American veterans have returned to Vietnam, seeking understanding, forgiveness or reconciliation. Now some are coming...

“…every nation under heaven..”

Who are all these people, anyway? And where are all these places they came from? And why were they there when the Apostles, "filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak in different tongues"? "We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the...

Sean Flanagan: In Memory

On of the joys of coming to retire at Nazareth House (nearly four years ago now) was to share the company of many of the then-young priests whom I admired when I was an even younger, newly-ordained priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. One of the difficulties of life here is that it must...

Overdue …

This (no foolin'!) is a review that is very much worth the few minutes it takes to read it, in spite of its appearing on FB on April Fools Day. "In Praise of Public Libraries", by Sue Halpern, New York Review of Books (April 18, 2019 Issue). The author reviews two books and a documentary...

Firing and Pruning

Today we say goodbye to "the wearin' of the green." This, the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, is the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. As part of my preparation for Lent this year, I thought I might spend some time with the Scripture readings for today, and see what light they might shed on...

Weight Loss: How Did I Do It?

In a previous post, I told of "My (year-long) Weight Loss Saga": from just over 205 pounds to 170 in a year (Ash Wednesday - also Valentine's Day - February 14, 2018, to mid-February, 2019). Now, I'm committed to another DietBet "game" during Lent to get down to 165. So committed, in fact, that I've...

My Weight Loss Saga

Last year, Ash Wednesday, which was also St. Valentine's Day, February 14, 2018. I weighed 206 pounds and I figured I needed to do something about it. I tried my best to fast (and pray) and eat properly during Lent, and by Easter Sunday, April 1, I was just under 200. I was happy, but...