When I was in high school we read a short German story entitled “Immensee.” It’s the story of a love that never happened, but that should have, except that the tragic hero of our story was never able to express his love to the woman he loved.
In telling his faith story, C.S. Lewis shares that at the moment of his conversion, he was “the most reluctant convert in the history of Christianity,” but that he gave himself over to Christ because “God’s compulsion is our liberation.”
As summertime flows into fall, and pumpkin spice everything fills the senses —whether we wish it or not! – here can be wistful nostalgia for summer.
On the last Sunday of August, at my home parish of St. Francis de Sales in Spooner, the universal Catholic Church was uniquely represented. My subsequent reflections have shaped this back-to-school season, renewed my appreciation for a lifelong love of learning and seem a relevant commentary at the start of a new academic year.
As I ponder this year’s Respect Life theme – “Mary, Mother of Life, pray for us!” – I can’t help but wonder who Mary is to each of us. Do we imagine her as Jesus’ mother?
This season, with somber hearts, we mark 25 years since achingly bright September skies were filled with the horrors of an evil still incomprehensible.
It’s hard to believe that the new school year is starting already. The beautiful summer we’ve had has gone by so fast, and once again our Catholic schools are filling with the energy, excitement and promise of a new year.
More than anything else, we long for home. Our deep ache for intimacy, security and comfort is, in the end, a longing for home, nothing more. We are forever restlessly searching for someone or something to take us home.
Recently, a youthful acquaintance shared with me his future career ambition to be “an influencer.” As a sign of my ever-increasing age, I was skeptical that the full-time influencer life is “a thing” for anyone other than celebrities.
Louisa May Alcott’s “Rose in Bloom” was my favorite book in middle school – similar to her more popular “Little Women,” but featuring a group of cousins instead of siblings, and less sad – and a reference to the wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays led to my reading and admiring Emerson.
