Dorothy Parker on Money

 

St. Thomas Aquinas on Faith

 

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta on Corpus Christi

Pope Pius XI on Mediocrity

Pope Francis on Holiness

St. Faustina Kowalska on Divine Mercy

On the Death of Billy Graham

Being At Peace With Different Measures of Glory

Athletes from Unified North & South Korean Team at Winter Olympics

The 23rd Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea are themed to be the games of peace.  This was accentuated by athletes of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) marching with their Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) counterparts under a unified flag.

Olympic Athletes from Russia for 2018 Winter Olympics 

Due the doping ban on Russian Federation, the 169 clean Russian athletes marched as neutrals in red and grey uniforms as neutrals.  Any gold medal winning "Olympic Athletes of Russia"  will be feted with the raising of the Olympic flag and anthem. 

While the  2,952 athletes participating in the Pyeongchang games are the best winter sport athletes in the world, but only a few make it up to the medal stand to receive their glory. For most, marching in the Winter Olympics opening ceremony is the highlight of their careers. 



This makes Eric Liddell's admonition about glory all the more poignant. 




What is particularly noteworthy of Eric Liddell is not that he was the the Flying Scotsman was the first  British Gold Medal winner in track from 1924, or that he was the basis of the film Chariots of Fire (1981), or his steadfast Sabbath keeping, but for dying as a missionary in a Japanese internment camp in China in 1945. 

We should all be inspired to run a good race in life and doing our best.

Pope St. John Paul II on Faith

The Polish Pope's predilections on faith can be seen through a Marian prism, which Pope St. John Paul II insisted was Christocentric, as true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary always leads to Christ. 

St. Teresa of Avila on Patience

St. John Bosco on Trust

Las Vegas Massacre Prompts Faith

The Las Vegas Massacre  at the Country Music festival near the Mandolay Bay hotel exposed evil in humanity as well as goodness of people.  In the heat of the shooting and the aftermath, in which 58 people were killed and over 500 people injured, strangers helped one another to safety.  There were many stories in which off duty law enforcement officers and former military selflessly sprang into action to help others and possibly lay down their lives for the safety of others.

When CNN was interviewing victims of the shooting, one of the attendees professed that the horrible experience jolted him from agnosticism to faith in God. 

The humanity of how many responded to the terrible travesty and the faith which the adversity inspired is another instance  of how God writes straight with crooked lines

St. Francis of Assisi on the Works of God

Pope Francis on Guardian Angels

Pope Pius XII on the Church Militant

St. John Baptist de la Salle on the Grace of God

St. Edith Stein on the Love of Christ

President Trump on Freedom

As President Trump commemorated the 2017 National Day of Prayer by signing Executive Orders protecting religious liberty, he noted where this fundamental first freedom is derived.

C.S. Lewis on Belief

Mother Angelica on Patience and Kairos