Thoughts from the Thinking

Recently I finished reading Kevin Roose’s The Unlikely Disciple after having it sit in a box of “books to be read eventually” for half a year. Kevin Roose was a student at Brown University when he decided to transfer for one semester at Liberty University out of curiosity. This book is about that semester as [...]

Recently there was a 7.0 earthquake in the small Caribbean island nation of Haiti. Perhaps you have heard of the multimillion dollar donations via text messaging or the downright astounding works of the US Air Force in getting the Port Au Prince airport up and running again…and maybe you heard what Pat Robertson had to [...]

If you are like me (which I hope you aren’t) you have been reading the news and couldn’t help but read the stories about the “elusive” g-spot that when stimulated induces an orgasm…and the debate over whether it exists or not. This recent European study and many like it have stirred up a storm lately [...]

Astronomy, Relationships, Theology…an odd combination but it makes sense to me.

In the grand scheme of things, who wins and who loses sporting events doesn’t matter. There are more important things to invest our lives in than sports or many other deified entities such as celebrities (Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter?), video games or platforms (Mac is a way of life?), or blind fundamentalism such as in patriotism (or “hope” and “change” perhaps), adamant atheism, or religious fanaticism. Without questioning, without reason, without the individual self, we are nothing and, quite frankly, we are obnoxious and dangerous.

There are many people, scholars and religious alike, who are wont to soften the words found in the 6th chapter of John’s gospel where Jesus proclaims that He is “the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which [He will] give for the life of the world is [His] flesh.” (Jn. 6:51). These words, like much of John 6:22-59, are very hard words to swallow (forgive the poorly made pun).

John McClane: I’ll tell you what your problem is, you don’t like me ’cause you’re a racist!
Zeus: What?
John McClane: You’re a racist! You don’t like me ’cause I’m white!
Zeus: I don’t like you because you’re gonna get me *killed*!

Today at Mass the closing song was the (in a sense) traditional song “Lift High the Cross.” The lyrics, traditionally, are as follows: Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, Till all the world adore his sacred name. 1. Come, brethren follow where our Savior trod, Our King victorious, Christ, the Son of [...]

Catholics are strang, I’ll tall you what…Seriously, have you ever been to an Easter Vigil Mass? It is intense stuff. There is fire, water, singing, good stories, food and drink, hazings, and this party goes all night long. That’s right, all night long. Perhaps there are frequent readers (I hope so) and they may remember [...]

Have you ever been so caught up in doing things “right” that you forgot why you were doing it in the first place? I do that sometimes. Maybe it is because I am German and a little anal retentive. Sometimes I spend so much time trying to get something “perfect” that I lose the value of what I am doing. In brief, I get lost in the rituals and the methods instead of losing myself in the love and power of the action itself.