Written On Our Hearts

From the moment, his cleats crossed over the foul line on April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson was verbally assaulted and targeted maliciously by fastballs. Racist managers taunted him, his teammates shunned him and opposing players regularly attempted to injure him. Although he was belittled, bruised and I’m sure close to the breaking point countless times throughout his historic baseball career; he not only managed to have a career batting average of .311, win a Rookie of the Year Award, a MVP award and a World Series (stats courtesy of www.baseballreference.com ) but he opened the door for men of all colors and from all corners of the earth to play in the Major Leagues. Jackie accomplished all this because he was courageously meek. He fought racism, bigotry and hatred with a bat and glove; not words or fists. Jackie robbed his critics and opponents of their perceived supremacy over him by stealing bases, not by slandering them in return. The results were not instantaneous and it certai...

Last year on Palm Sunday I attended Mass at my parish, St. Francis de Sales. At that time we had the privilege of having as our Pastor then “Bishop-elect” David Malloy. A few short weeks later, He became the Bishop of Rockford, but on Palm Sunday last year he was standing in the back of our church blessing the palm branches before the entrance procession wearing a zucchetto and pectoral cross. Certainly, I recognized the symbolism of the zucchetto as the crown of thorns signifying a bishop’s special closeness and participation in the Sacrifice of Christ as a successor of the Apostles. However, it was not His election to the Apostolic ranks or the privilege  of seeing a “Bishop-elect” celebrate Mass that stood out the most. After the entrance procession, before the opening collect, Bishop Malloy made a comment that has stuck with me. He said “ think about what we have just done, for a moment we gave God perfect and pure praise - God is pleased ;” Mass then continued normally with no...

One of my favorite contemporary Christian worship songs to meditate upon is Worlds Apart  by Jars of Clay. It speaks to our unconquerable struggle with sin and despite our best human efforts to live a life of grace we still come up miserably short. The message of this song is particularly pertinent to reflect upon during Lent, helping us remember that without a savior we will be left “ broken and on [our] knees .” We find ourselves overwhelmed by our sin often and it “ takes all [we are] to believe in a mercy that covers [us] .” By admitting that “ what [we] need (or sins that Satan has deceived us into believing that we need to remain happy) and what [we] believe are worlds apart ” enables the Savior to fill the chasm in our hearts with His mercy, forgiveness and love. As St. Catherine of Siena would point out in her Dialogue, Jesus is the bridge, by which our soul must walk across to access heaven, there is no other way; no alternative path. Furthermore, she states, that thi...

The erosion of “absolute truth” in American society is a growing problem. For the past few weeks, I have been reflecting upon this in the wake of a bold statement made by President Obama during his second inauguration address. He said that we must not “ mistake absolutism for principle .” On the surface, this might seem like a benign or even acceptable statement to Americans. It’s not. Those four words from our president suggest that we should reject absolutes. Furthermore, he is alluding that the principles (beliefs which beckon action) by which you choose to live your life should not affect that of others. It’s like you deciding to call the color “ red ” by a new name “ green ” just because that is the “ personal principle ” by which you’d like to live your life. Moreover, it is beyond ridiculous to think that it is not going to affect your relationship with others. An example: We are walking through a garden on a spring day and I mention to you how nice the green leaves look. In res...