Essays

Embracing Dingy Socks and the Wider Lesson They Teach

            At the doctor’s office, I was told to undress and get into a gown by the nurse.  As I started to untie my shoes, the nurse said, “Cool shoes!” as she gathered her things to leave....

Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday Are a Perfect Couple

Valentine’s Day is on Ash Wednesday this year.  At first thought, they seem like an unlikely pairing.  Valentine’s Day is a day reminiscent of romance and love.  It’s filled with roses, chocolates, lavish dinners, teddy...

What if New Year’s Resolutions Are a Misinterpreted Yearning to Participate in the Penitential Season Known as Lent?

I am happy to say that my area has had a milder than average winter.  Most of the highs have been near 40 degrees which has afforded me the luxury of continuing my daily run outside instead of being forced to move it to the monotony of my treadmill in our...

Perhaps Sliced Bread Isn’t the Best Thing

            “It’s the best thing since sliced bread.”  I’ve heard this phrase all my life.  It’s always made me think, “Boy, slicing your own bread must have been pretty difficult in order...
Memento Mori

Memento Mori

            “She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life. “ – the Misfit from “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor In Flanner O’Connor’s...

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Jesus the Master Electrician

Jesus the Master Electrician

            Dr. Tim Gray of the Augustine Institute referred to the Ascension of Our Lord as “completing the circuit.”  I thought it an excellent metaphor and it set me to thinking it through...

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A Cold, Dead Heart and a Cold-Blooded Icon

A Cold, Dead Heart and a Cold-Blooded Icon

I am not an emotional person.  In fact, I think I am best described as having a cold, dead heart.  A heart of stone would also be apt.  I have always been this way.  I can’t remember a time when it was not difficult for me to...

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