One Catholic Life Blog

Homily

Strength to Face the Future: Homily for the First Sunday of Advent – Year C

In today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples to “stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” In a bit of personal irony, I woke up this weekend unable to “stand erect” because of an excruciating pain in my back. I guess I must have tweaked something putting up the Christmas tree or carrying the box of holiday china. But it’s starting to feel better, and I have great hope that it will continue to heal. We human beings cannot live without hope. We’re unique...

Books and Reading

Preparing for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week Read-along: Book 5 – Desolation Island

If you’re participating in the Aubrey-Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Schedule, then you have just reached the end of The Mauritius Command, the fourth book in the Aubrey-Maturin series. With the end of book four we are now one fifth of the way through the series. Jack Aubrey is in the prime of his naval career, and his family is growing. Dr. Maturin’s career in espionage is bearing great fruit for the Crown, but his personal life is not what he would hope. What did you think of The...

Books and Reading

Classics Club Challenge Complete!

With the completion of David Copperfield yesterday, I successfully met my Classics Club Challenge of reading fifty classics in five years! I began the challenge on my 50th birthday in 2016 and finished the final chapter of the final book on the eve of my 55th birthday in 2021. Much has happened in the last five years. I became a grandfather, transitioned from elementary teacher to school principal, began hosting reading challenges, traveled to Europe for the first time, and lived through a pandemic, to name just a...

Books and Reading

David Copperfield Chapter-a-Day Read-along Wrap-Up

Yesterday was the final chapter of David Copperfield in this year’s Chapter-a-Day Read-along schedule. This post is the place for you to leave your thoughts about your experience in reading Dickens’ own favorite novel of his. What did you gain from reading it? What challenged you? What uplifted you? What surprised you? It had been over twenty years since I last read the novel, and I was very pleased to discover that it was still as enjoyable and moving as the first time. I had no very clear...

Books and Reading

Preparing for the 2021-2022 Chapter-a-Day Read-along: The Three Musketeers

Here we go! Tomorrow we begin the final book of the 2021 Chapter-a-Day Read-along and the first book of the 2022 Chapter-a-Day Read-along: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. There’s not much to prepare for in getting ready for the The Three Musketeers except to buckle up and get ready for a wild ride! Try to put any preconceived notions aside, tuck away any memories you have of movies or TV shows you may have seen, and simply let yourself sink into the prose of Dumas’ historical fiction....

Musketeer detail

Books and Reading

Announcing the 2021-2022 Musketeer Chapter-a-Day Read-along

This is the official sign-up post for the 2022 Musketeer Chapter-a-Day Read-along! You’re invited to join me in reading one of the great adventure series of all time, the D’Artagnan Romances. Each chapter averages about 8 pages, so you should only have to dedicate 10 to 15 minutes a day to reading. And if you get behind, you can catch up pretty easily. Wait, what? 2022? It’s only October, so why am I already announcing next year’s chapter-a-day read-along? There’s a special reason, and it goes all the...

Books and Reading

Preparing for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week Read-along: Book 4 – The Mauritius Command

If you’re participating in the Aubrey-Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Schedule, then you have just reached the end of HMS Surprise, the third book in the Aubrey-Maturin series. By this third book, we are well into the story of Jack and Stephen and all the other established characters. Battles, duels, heartbreaks, HMS Surprise has some of the most memorable scenes in the entire series. This post is for you to post your feedback about the book and the series. What did you think of HMS Surprise? Leave your thoughts,...

Books and Reading

Preparing for the 2021 Chapter-a-Day Read-along: David Copperfield

As the bells of Notre Dame cathedral begin to echo and fade away, we get ready to close the book on the story of Quasimodo and Esmerelda and pull the next Chapter-a-Day Read-along book off the shelf, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I have read several Dickens novels, and of them all I have the warmest feelings toward David Copperfield. But it has been almost twenty years since I last read it, and I have forgotten most of the story. I have carried these fond feelings with me...

Homily

What More Were You Looking For? – Homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately. There was a certain man in the town who heard the warning, so he looked out his window at the gathering storm and saw his next-door neighbors parked outside in front of his yard. They were concerned about him and so they had come by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and...

Books and Reading

Preparing for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week Read-along: Book 3 – H.M.S. Surprise

If you’re participating in the Aubrey-Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Schedule, then you have just reached the end of Post Captain by reading a chapter a week for the last fourteen weeks. Combined with our twelve-week reading of Master and Commander, we are exactly half way through the first year of our four year odyssey through the Aubrey-Maturin books. Congratulations! As much as I enjoy Master and Commander, I feel like Post Captain is the real beginning to the series. Because  Master and Commander is mostly a naval...

Books and Reading

Quo Vadis Chapter-a-Day Read-along Wrap-Up

Today is the final day of reading Quo Vadis, the second book of the 2021 Chapter-a-Day Read-along. If you were able to adjust to the little schedule mix-up, then today is the day for reading the Epilogue and finishing the story of Vinicius and Ligia. This post is the place for you to leave your thoughts about your experience in reading Henryk Sienkiewicz’s classic. What did you gain from reading it? What challenged you? What uplifted you? What surprised you? I’ve read Quo Vadis a few times already,...