Deacon Ordination Group Picture
Brenda and I are right behind Fr. Mike Savelesky, our formation director. (Click the image for a larger picture.)
One Catholic Life Blog
Ordination Day Prayer
Lovely God, All that I know of service I learned From your true servants in my life: A mom who always puts her family first; A dad who sacrifices his life for his children’s; Siblings who celebrate life in the midst of suffering; A wife who tirelessly gives flesh and bone daily; Children who trust that we know what we’re doing; Friends who keep in touch over years and miles; Colleagues in education who work to build your kingdom; Students who leap to volunteer at a moment’s notice....
Visual Literature: With a Piece of Chalk
I am constantly amazed at the ability of the human race to create art that inspires and moves. If literature is “writing that treats human concerns thoughtfully,” then the following short film is visual literature. I’m looking forward to sharing this with my students this coming school year.
Andrew Greeley on the Catholic Imagination
Recently I read Andrew Greeley’s The Catholic Imagination (2001, University of California Press) and was fascinated by his research into the way Catholicism affects one’s world view and creativity. I’ve collected some of the more interesting and provocative quotes below: After several pages of statistical analysis, Greeley concludes: Catholics are more interested in the fine arts than Protestants, and those Catholics who go to church regularly are the most likely to be interested in the fine arts. Catholics are more interested in the fine arts because they have more graceful...
“Is this heaven?” “No, it’s a Tommy Emmanuel concert.”
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of seeing Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel in concert at the Bing Crosby Theater here in Spokane, and it was a true “Life-Is-Beautiful” moment. Not only was I jaw-dropped by his finger-contorting playing, but I was happy to see a similar reaction on the face of my teenage son. Though Joseph and I don’t share the exact same tastes in music, we both admire talented guitar work, and it doesn’t get much better than Tommy Emmanuel. According to his web site, Emmanuel has been...
Countdown to Deacon Ordination
Tonight Brenda and I join seventeen other couples in a retreat for deacon candidates and wives. We’ll spend the weekend together as the culmination of four years of formation before ordination on August 10. Our retreat master will again be the witty and intelligent Deacon Owen Cummings, author of Deacons and the Church. I’m really looking forward to hearing him again, and to getting to spend one last weekend with the other candidates and their wives. It has been a privilege, a joy, and a great blessing to...
Remembering Ray Bradbury
It’s almost midnight and I should be in bed, but I have to write something about the loss of Ray Bradbury. I’m too tired to adequately explain how much I admire his work. Let me just say that if I could choose any author’s style to emulate, it would be Ray Bradbury’s. I love his simple prose and vivid images. He was a true storyteller who rose above genre and left behind a legacy of powerful literature. I began to really appreciate Bradbury’s work when I taught Fahrenheit...
A Playlist of Achingly Beautiful Music
Since I recently finished John O’Donohue’s book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, I’ve been trying to actively bring more beauty into my life, and to recognize the beauty that already surrounds me. The first place I went to was my digital music collection, where I tried to put together a playlist of beautiful music. As I scanned through my collection looking for songs and pieces of music to include in the list, I was struck by how many of them dealt with sadness or longing. Songs like: “Everybody Hurts”...
Beauty and Liturgy
When was the last time you went to Mass in order to experience beauty? In his book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, John O’Donohue explains the connection between beauty and liturgy: …whenever we awaken beauty, we are helping to make God present in the world. Consequently the rituals and liturgy of religion can be occasions where beauty truly comes alive….Thomas Aquinas and and the medieval thinkers wisely recognized that beauty was at the heart of reality; it was where truth, unity, goodness and presence came together. Without beauty they...
It’s Star Wars Day
Today is Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you), so here are Darth Vader and Yoda recording their voices to be used with Tom Tom GPS devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ljFfL-mL70 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdcJVuylmsM
How Parents Pray
“Being a loving parent is work that guarantees the transformation of the ego for in the work of rearing children the limits of your selfishness, need and smallness are continually challenged. Somehow you find within your heart a love that is willing to stretch further and further. In this sense, the work of parenting is profoundly blessed work. Some people pray in words; in the work of raising children, parents pray every day with every fibre of their being.” John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, page 164
