In Times Like These I’ll tell you a story about a man I knew. He grew up in a poor neighborhood, a rough neighborhood. His parents were immigrants. They were poor, yet they worked hard and sent him to the best schools they could afford, often...

I Know Who You Are A few years ago, a man feeling despondent over the loss of his job and the tremendous debt he was carrying, chose to take the lives of his wife, his five children, and then killed himself. How terrible it is to lose hope. Having...

The Chosen People I don’t really have any regrets when I think back on my life. But there are a couple experiences I wish I could have had. I mean, I suppose I still might have these experiences, but at my age, it doesn’t seem likely, and...

Who's Calling I may seem like some kind of seeker, but I’m not. The truth is, who knows why we do the things we do? I can remember from my earliest childhood being called to certain images. When I was four years old, I was fascinated by a statue...

The Gift of the Magi Today is the feast of the Epiphany. This is the day that Christians celebrate the arrival of those three wise guys from the east. Actually, as I’m sure most of you know, it nowhere says that there were three of them. What it...

A Sign for Our Times We just got back from Phoenix, Arizona. We went for Christmas. It was a great trip. A few years ago, though, we had a horrible trip to Phoenix. The car broke down in Indio. We were stuck there for hours. There are few...

Who's Calling Please? You’re here once again reading one of these little gems about God and religion. Perhaps you’re interested to see if I’m going to say anything interesting or funny. Perhaps you want to know a little more about that...

Lost in the Wilderness The book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus taught me one important thing about the difference between men and women. When women complain about the things that are bothering them, they just want someone to listen. Men...

There is One Coming When I was young, I had a passing interest in our family tree. My mom used to tell us stories about our family, her side of the family, anyway. I used to listen to them. I enjoyed them. Who isn’t interested in their family?...

Promises Promises One of the things that used to drive me crazy as a kid was that my parents would make promises to me and then not keep them. Of course, as a kid, I didn’t really see or understand the challenges they faced. I can recall one...