Be Not Idle

Full disclosure: When asked to pick a book to review for the Catholic Company, I chose A Civilization of Love because I thought it would be an easy read. The author, Carl Anderson, is the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus – and to me, the K of C has always meant a bunch of hard-working guys who love a lot and do a lot. When Chris Cash read to me that the subtitle was “What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World”, I figured it would be a how-to book on community-building.

It is, but not in the way I thought.

Continue Reading »

Bernie and Diane are humble, unpretentious people…. They had everything they ever wanted, they said. Except for a daughter. But the more they asked about Danielle, the more they didn’t want to know.

She was 8, but functioned as a 2-year-old. She had been left alone in a dank room, ignored for most of her life.

There have been some truly horrific stories about children in the news this summer. This story is about a neglectful mother and child abuse investigators who ignored signs, but it’s also hopeful.

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838 .ece

Sometimes Charity needs a baseball bat. – Father Jim Lopez

I think it’s the first time in my adult life I’ve laughed in the confessional.  I worry about being uncharitable when standing up for my faith, but Father attempted to set me aright. He also directed me to the Sunday evening Mass, which he says at 7 pm in order to catch the dayworkers and boat crews that are out until evening.

The Gospel was about the multiplication of loaves and fish.

Father changed his homily for the evening Mass, as he had talked to a parishioner and gotten permission to use her family’s story. He spoke about a large family whose young son was suffering from a long illness which was difficult to diagnose. 

When news went around that he was sick and going to specialists, people began to show up with food: cooked meals for the whole family, groceries, etc. It lifted a burden off the family and it also taught them something: humility.

Father said that the family took pride in being self-sufficient. (I had to nod, because that seems to be the way with big Catholic families.) It was overwhelming, but they learned to humbly accept what God was doing for them through other people.

It was one of the best homilies ever.

Last night my sister and I were sitting in the den and I said to her, “I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a
bottle to keep me alive. That would be no quality of life at all… if that ever happens, just pull the plug.”

So she got up, unplugged the computer, and threw out my wine.

Of course, I laughed at this joke, but then I wondered if it were true. This sounds like something her sister would do to her – and my brother would do to me!