“Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned.” — St. Augustine These words from St. Augustine are meant for our musing in the tale of tenderness and tragedy that is the film, “Calvary,” beginning in the village church with a priest hearing a confession through...
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O star of wonder, star of night, Star of royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light. There is no brighter symbol of the Christmas Story than the Star of Bethlehem. For over two thousand years, believers, scoffers, and the curious have wondered at the Biblical account of the Star. ...
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Where were you on May 2, 2011? I was at an Usher concert with a few friends. It was a great concert, and I enjoyed hearing Usher perform several hits from his newest album, Raymond v. Raymond. The concert, though, is not the reason I remember that day. I remember May 2, 2011 because of...
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I hear the word “apocalypse” in casual settings more than a dozen times each year. It seems that every year there is a “Snow-pocalypse,” by which the evening news means 12 to 14 inches of snow will inconvenience you for about a day and a half. Or my son might talk about the “Vocabulary Apocalypse,”...
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In his Requiem for a Nun, the poet William Faulkner somberly reminds us that “the past is never dead. It’s not even past.” The persons and events of generations past in many ways are still very much alive, influencing and informing our current dialogues, discussions, and perspectives. Since our understanding of history is so crucial...
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I began with the sainted story of California. Like all of life, and the history of every people and every place, the story of California is a complex one, even a messy one. On the one hand, what we know best is from the perspective of the Europeans who came from Spain in the 17th-century....
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