Luke Skywalker – The Orphan Hero
This is the sixth episode of my YouTube series Myths, Monsters and the Mysteries. Go here to follow the whole series on YouTube and subscribe if you can. It doesn't cost anything, but helps get the word out there.
Blogging…What’s That?
Way back in 2006, just after we moved back to the USA from Britain, I started a blog. Blogging was new and basic, and I started the blog to publish stuff that I couldn't get published elsewhere. I couldn't get it published elsewhere either because it wasn't good writing, but also because it was too personal, [...]
The Guardian Angel and My Little Sister
My family were attending a High School football game, and were sitting high up in the bleachers. My little sister Denise--a skinny little thing--was seven years old. When the home team scored a touchdown everyone stood up and cheered. She did too, and as she did, she slipped through the narrow gap between the seat of [...]
Divine Mercy Summit
This weekend I'll be speaking at the online Divine Mercy Summit. Two talks: Divine Mercy and the Mass and Divine Mercy and Immortal Combat. I first became enthusiastic about the Divine Mercy devotion when I went as administrator to Our Lady of the Rosary. My predecessor had led the people to build a simple shrine to [...]
Bl Carlo Acutis and St Therese
It's sweet that Blessed Carlo Acutis' relics were put on display for veneration today on the Memorial of St Therese of Lisieux. She taught the little way of spiritual childhood and Bl. Carlo's simple, child like devotion to miracles and the Blessed Sacrament was a similarly child-like example of trust and faith. Pope Benedict XVI wrote, [...]
Thérèse or Nietzsche – It’s All or Nuthin’
Frederich Nietzsche In the musical Oklahoma! Ado Annie and Will Parker sing, “With Me It’s All or Nuthin’ is it All or Nuthin’ With You?” I like to imagine the duet being sung by Thérèse of Lisieux and Friedrich Nietzsche. I can just see the sweet little French girl and the skinny German with [...]
Sanity and Sanctity
It is easy for us to assume that people are either insane or sane. In fact, the sane and the insane or only the extreme ends of a spectrum. Insane people are simply further gone than the rest of us. Saints are at the other end of the spectrum and are truly whole, truly human and [...]
St Michael, Hammer of Heresies and Hounds of Hell
This is my favorite time of the year. Not only is the beginning of Autumn the most beautiful season, but I love this ten days in the church calendar: St Michael, St Jerome, St Therese, St Francis, St Faustina, Our Lady of the Rosary. I was pleased to see therefore that Pope Francis has called on us [...]
St Matthew and the Magi
When I was researching my book Mystery of the Magi – The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men I discovered the extraordinary amount of legendary and mythical material surrounding the magi story. More than any other gospel story, the tale of the wise men who came to pay homage to the Christ child attracted elaboration [...]
The Flying Monk?
St. Joseph of Cupertino was a misfit mystic. His life of asceticism was so extreme that some people would say he had an eating disorder, that he was emotionally or mentally ill.