Author: Mark J. Chmiel

Today’s One-Liner (#345)

Like an athlete who accepts  a grueling training regimen because she knows it will stretch her physical capabilities, the mystics accept hardship because they know from experience that trials draw out their best.  –Sri Eknath…

Being Interested

When a cowhand got on the bus at Hugo, and smiled at all of us in there, a whole busload of people, I knew that he was more interested in mankind than 10,000,000 New School…

All Too Human

Feeling alternately overwhelmed by his inability to comprehend and discuss the Holocaust yet charged with the awesome duty of recording it, [Yankev] Glatshteyn felt tempted at times to run—not towards his heritage, but away from…

An Easter Message

I found the following by Insurrection Barbie at X on Sunday… … I told my kids a different Easter story this morning. One that I think really matters. One that reflects my journey this year….

All-time Greats

By the novel of ideas I mean realist fiction, focused on the complexities of ­human psy­chol­ogy and the social conditions peculiar to a specific time and place, that tests theories by examining the sources of…

Agape

…when we choose to exercise an act of agape (unselfish love), we bring the real presence of Christ to the people we love. We become tubes into which Christ comes and through which Christ moves…

Word of the Day: Adhitthana

“Resolute determination, decision, unshakable resolve, vow, will … It represents the steadfast strength of mind essential for applying oneself to a specific end and the refusal to vacillate in the face of obstacles. ” –Mirka Knaster,…

Our Hearts Are Restless…

God is the very life of your soul as the soul is the life of your body. That’s the point St. Thomas makes in quoting St. Augustine. (All of St. Thomas is really only an…