One of my favorite scenes comes near the end of the movie right after the Wizard loses control of the balloon and leaves Dorothy and Toto behind. Just when she thinks that she’ll never get home, enter Glenda, the good witch. Remember?

Just over a week from now, on September the 14th, the Church will celebrate a most peculiar feast: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. If the title of this feast doesn’t take each of us aback, it should. Imagine a feast day called “The Exaltation of the Holy Gallows” or “The Exaltation of the Holy Electric Chair.”

As soon as he entered the room, Rosamae shouted out her question: “Why does God wait so long before he gives you what he promised?” Rosamae is Silverside Manor’s resident scholar.

“O Jesus, teach us how to make our soul be silent so that You may speak to us.”

~ Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS

I love this simple but profound prayer of our Oblate Founder in which he asks Jesus to teach us how to silent our souls in order that he might speak to us. To “silent our souls” –what does that mean anyway?

I was at Starbucks one day to indulge in one of my pleasures, iced coffee with almond milk and sugar free cinnamon dolce. A young mother and her four or five year old daughter stood in line behind me. The mother invited her daughter to pick out a treat to eat,

Our nation hurts and mourns yet again after two more senseless acts of violence, killing twenty-nine and wounding many others. The emotional wounds of those who love the killed and wounded are beyond words. Once again, there are calls for thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families.

While reading an article in the Wall Street Journal highlighting the challenges facing Elon Musk’s Tesla electric cars, I came across a term that I had never before encountered: “Range anxiety”.

Earlier this week, on Sunday evening, I was going for an evening run through Wilmington, Delaware, just as it was beginning to get dark. As I turned right at an intersection to enter Brandywine Park, two boys standing at the opposite street corner called out to me, “Hello, Jogger!” Wondering what kind of greeting this could be, I stopped, and they came over to me holding a plastic bag.

A tired looking Ted was having lunch with his brother Luke, who remarked. “Geez Ted you look beat. What’s happening?” In a weary tone Ted answered, “It seems all I do is work, work, work, providing food and stuff for Dot plus saving a little for the kids’ futures, but I never seem to make ends meet.” Ted added “Don’t get me wrong Luke, I love my family, but it just isn’t fun anymore.”

A few weeks ago I read an editorial that suggested that the world today, fractured and combative, needs to rediscover comity. What is comity anyway? An early 1948 edition of Webster’s Dictionary defines comity as “mildness and suavity of manners; courtesy.” A later dictionary speaks of comity in terms of “international courtesy,” which is closer to its meaning in the recent editorial.