On a trip to New York City last year, I went with a friend to see the famed Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where the striking Starry Night of Vincent Van Gogh is displayed. I had always wanted to see it firsthand, and I was not disappointed by Van Gogh’s masterpiece. But “disappointment” certainly [...]
When I visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) with a friend of mine last year, the dramatic contrasts of modern art styles were most visible in the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh (Starry Night) and Pablo Picasso (Les Demoiselles D’Avignon) in adjoining galleries. The radiant Van Gogh welcomed sustained crowds of admirers while [...]
When my father was confronted by a menacing wasp in the shed at the back of our house, he experienced the creature as beautiful and later told me with some amazement about his unusual encounter that left both of the sparring partners with tremendous respect for each other. We noted that in order to [...]
A few years ago I had the privilege of standing in the sacristy of a Ukrainian church watching a priest friend of mine prepare for Mass. The wonderful liturgies of the Church’s eastern rites (the Byzantine, Maronite, Ukrainian and others) express a richness and complexity of worship that contrasts with the simplicity of the [...]
If you were to ask a “bible only” Catholic-basher if he owns a hand-written copy of the bible in Greek dating back to the fourth century AD, he may be quite confused. A bible…uh…in Greek? Even sincere “bible only” believers may never have thought about where the bible actually came from. Your question may [...]
Roman Catholics share veneration of the extraordinary 4th century poet and writer known as Ephrem the Syrian with the Syriac Orthodox Church. St. Ephrem is a canonized saint in both traditions and was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Ephrem served as a deacon in his homeland of [...]
Switzerland is like a hidden jewel in the middle of Europe, a mountainous land with a highly secretive banking system and a tradition of remaining neutral during wars. The Swiss culture has given the world exquisite chocolates, precision watches, cuckoo clocks, the Swiss Army knife, and even the modern marvel of Velcro! What an [...]
One of my favorite spiritual writers is the 20th century German scholar, Romano Guardini (1885-1969). Don’t let his Italian-sounding name fool you. He was of Italian descent, but he grew up in Germany and had the penetrating intellect and organized mind of a German scholar. Guardini was a Catholic priest, a pastor, and a [...]
If you page through a traditional Catholic hymnbook you will eventually come across the name of Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) in the composer credits at the bottom of a given hymn. That would be Father Frederick Faber, English Catholic priest, convert to Catholicism, and composer of hymns extraordinaires. Fr. Faber made some of the [...]
Sometimes…it isn’t worry that causes us to focus on the future, but the hope of something better or happier…. We may spend our whole lives waiting to live. Thus we risk not fully accepting the reality of our present lives. Yet, what guarantee is there that we won’t be disappointed when the long-awaited time [...]