People are reaching this page thanks to the purchase of kevinlaughery.com.  The purchase was not by me but by my lifelong friend Brian Noe (http://www.noebie.com) of Mattoon, Illinois.  Thank you, Domain Angel! 

Fear can be a good thing, if it's the reverential fear that we owe to God.  We lift up our hearts to God who gives us life and all good things, and we remember, with Job, that God even tells chaos how far it can go.

I have just started reading a five-volume history of the Second Vatican Council.  These days, many people assert that Vatican II was an aberration.  They are utterly wrong.  Vatican II changed us forever with its orientation toward the world as it is.  It changed our understanding of ourselves as members of a pilgrim people, each individual enjoying a radical equality with all others.  It changed our worship with its admission that praying in our mother tongues might be better than trying to do this in Latin.  It acknowledged the brokenness of Christianity and set us on an irrevocable journey toward unity.  It affirmed that Christians must do much rethinking in relating toward non-Christians and especially toward the Jewish people. 

Check back here for occasional book reports.

The readings in Year B focus greatly on the blood of Christ.  Let us acknowledge the differences between the ancient mentality and our own, and appreciate their understanding of blood as a sign of atonement for sin.

The dynamism of the Holy Trinity should be reflected in the dynamic action of love in our lives.

"Now, listen up; this is the Holy Spirit talking.  Everybody start talking Latin!"  This is not the way the Holy Spirit works.  Unfortunately, the recent unpleasantness regarding English liturgical texts would lead one to believe that some highly-placed people in the Church do think that this is how the Spirit operates.  Today's passage from Acts contradicts them.  -- I do have one retraction of something I said.  I do believe that God deals with sinners with respect for the sinner's individuality.