Spirituality

By Fr. Glenn Jones

You may see Catholic churches in your area posting notices about the celebration of “All Saints Day” on November 1. This is our annual celebration in which we honor our brothers and sisters in Christ who have, as St. Paul himself wrote: “…have fought the good fight… have finished the race… have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). …even unto death—deaths very often by martyrdom.

Some still erroneously believe: “There they are … worshipping saints again.” But, as CB’ers used to say: “Negatory, good buddy.” Whenever we Catholics/Orthodox hear others mistakenly accuse us of worshipping Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones

Saw an interesting (if disappointing) article from the Wall Street Journal on Friday: “Religiosity, Church Attendance Fall Sharply”—chronicling an apparent drop in those who adhere to ANY faith. Of course, this does not attest to either the truth or falsity of faith; it simply professes to measure those who believe. The number of people who believe in any particular thing attests neither to its truth or falsity; for example, if everyone believed the earth was flat, that wouldn’t make it so.

Serendipitously, that article appeared on the Friday prior to our weekend Catholic Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” 

Such is the actual text of “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns, often regarded the national poet of Scotland, though we Americans know the adage more commonly as “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” It’s rather a sadness that poetry is now so neglected, for few texts concentrate more human experience and wisdom into few words than poignant poetry. Indeed, many, if not most, of the wise adages we can access immediately from memory is not from novelists, but from poets. Like a treasure map, good poetry Read More