Category: Commonplace book

Celerity of the Saints

St Francis Solano, when under the impetus of love, would move like the wind so that no one could keep pace with him. On Christmas, a friar caught sight of him rushing along carrying some…

Living Examples

The most notable new female community was the Missionaries of Charity, originally founded by an Albanian nun, Bl. Teresa of Calcutta (d. 1997), to work especially with the poorest of the poor in India—the abandoned…

Today’s One-Liner (#207)

We have the power to let the current pass through us and use us to produce the light of the world or we can refuse to be used and allow the darkness to spread. –Mother…

Conscience Versus Power

In spite of all the terrible executions, the indescribable tragedies, and the unrepented brutalities, the White Rose leaflets made their way throughout Germany and occupied Europe, bringing hope into the cells of condemned prisoners and…

(Back to) Augustine

But there comes a time when we know that something is missing. And when this time comes, we need to know where to turn. Often, I will suggest, we should turn to Augustine himself. Without…

Stories Matter

Stories move us in ways arguments and theories cannot. In ways we may not even notice, the stories of others rework the way we see the world. The stories of true heroes remind us of…

Today’s One-Liner (#204)

I felt charity enter into my soul, and the need to forget myself and to please others; since then I’ve been happy!  –Saint Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: Autobiography

So Long Ago and So Modern

St. Francis anticipated all that is most liberal and sympathetic in the modern mood; the love of nature; the love of animals; the sense of social compassion; the sense of the spiritual dangers of prosperity…

Dis-ease and Cure

The gospel invites us to enter the mystery of our own disabilities, hidden or otherwise. We need not fear those moments of being secret “lepers” ourselves, those parts of our being we hide away and…