The Life of Virtue

A young, indie-pop band called Ocean Park Standoff has recently released a hit single entitled “Good News.”  With catchy beats and lyrics, the song draws in its listeners from the opening notes.  Still, there is a greater value to this song than its potential to climb music charts. About the motivation for writing the song, one of the band members remarks, "It was about our daily lives and breakups and work issues and the fact that everything coming at us from the outside world was like, 'It's only getting worse!' because that's what sells."  Indeed, the human heart cries out for good news in the midst of the mundane and in the midst of suffering.  The answer, however, does not lie in what we can do for ourselves, in the power or positive thinking.  This song should remind all of us that we need more than that.  This song is a cry for a deeper relationship with the Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Many of the lyrics point the listener in ...

We all are aware that Thanksgiving, the great American holiday, happens tomorrow.  It seems, though, that the cultural awareness of the source of this celebration has been lost in recent years.  The first celebrants of this ritual gathered at table during shortly after the harvest season because of the gratitude in their hearts.  They were grateful for God's grace that allowed them to survive their first harsh winter in the New World; and for the assistance of their fellow man (native American Indians, specifically) in cultivating the crops and produce.  These were reasons for gratitude, indeed. Jennie Brownscombe, The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth (1914) Over the last three-plus centuries, the ritual has changed slightly.  There probably wasn't a grand exhibition of sport (like football) before, during, and immediately after the big meal.  It is very likely that folks didn't pack up for brief cross-country trips but, rather, they remained within ...

Merriam-Webster defines "renaissance man" as one who has interest and expertise in many areas.  The Urban Dictionary mentions that a person described by this term is "talented in all spheres of human endeavor."  A general (and incomplete) litany of such spheres would include language, philosophy, religion, science, sport, art, and, perhaps, food.  The person who attains noteworthy accomplishment in most or all of these realms, and who could pass on knowledge and wisdom to others, is considered to have attained the ideal. The historical figure who seems to have attained this ideal most notably (at least in the modern age) is Leonardo da Vinci.  Da Vinci receives credit as a painter, a botanist, an urban planner, a man of high intellect, and a designer of flying machines.  If all of this is attributable to him in fact, then it is right to place him in the limited company of true renaissance men.  Of course, there are also fictional expressions of this id...

Those of you who read my blog may be aware of the "controversial" news headline about the pope marrying twenty couples this past Sunday, some of whom were "living in sin."  And so, the barrage of distortions and misinformation by the secular media continues.  Because of this headline, I received the following email. I have four children two in college recently, one in high school, and my youngest at [a local Catholic school] .  You'll find as your children grow up, they have some amazing questions/discussions, especially with social media.  I think we did a good job, our college children attend Mass, follow the Pope on twitter, and are great kids.  We are truly blessed.  What I find difficult is when the Pope is in the news purportedly supporting gay marriage, or as in yesterday's headlines marrying couples "living in sin."  I spent a long while trying to look into yesterday's news and found in the United Kingdom's news, that one couple...