Everything has to be big: We live in big houses in big cities, go to work in big cars on superhighways to reach our big businesses where we try to make big money.It’s no secret. Americans have a thing about bigness. We live in a big country that feels comfortable with the … Read more
Of all Catholic meditations, none is more wholesome than that on death. Catholic authors like Saint Alphonsus Liguori wrote passionately and extensively on the subject; modern homiletics seems to avoid it like the plague. The topic remains ever timely nevertheless. Death comes to all in all epochs. It marks the conclusion of … Read more
Machines are ever more plentiful and useful, but something more important, more spiritual, is being lost One of the greatest influences of the Industrial Revolution on society was perhaps its ability to mechanize our lives. In a materialistic world, which adores speed, it seems only natural that matter and speed come together … Read more
Gratitude, it has been said, is the most fragile of virtues. This virtue’s feebleness was nowhere more apparent than in the treatment given to American soldiers returning from the Vietnam War. They were sometimes spat upon at airports by fringe groups of hippies. Times have changed. American soldiers returning from the Middle … Read more
As the number of carriage companies in America grows, so do the number of Horse-Drawn Funerals. That such a thing exists in a post-industrial nation like the United States represents another paradox that can be found only in America. A funny thing happened to me recently. While driving down the road minding … Read more
It is not every day that one meets a veteran of World War II much less one who was present during the historic battle for Iwo Jima. But I knew something was different about Norbert Arnold as he approached me during a presentation about Fatima at his cousin’s home in St. Mary’s, … Read more
The Wanamaker is not only the world’s largest organ, it is also the largest musical instrument on earth. Moreau Claude, an organist from Paris, appreciates such things. After all, he has a beautiful organ in his own home and has studied under Marcel Dupre. For his 70th birthday, his daughter bought him … Read more
It must have been a sight to see. Our guide seemed delighted retelling the story of a man so awed by the ornate, seventeenth-century gilded carriage that he could not resist the urge. He just had to sit in it. When he stepped over the small security barrier, the alarms sounded; his … Read more
VISIT LONGWOOD GARDENS ON THE WEB The facts are staggering. Here you will find the greatest and the most in nearly every conceivable category: 1,050 acres of gardens containing exquisite flowers and majestic trees, twenty different outdoor gardens, twenty indoor gardens in four acres of heated greenhouses, and a total of 11,000 … Read more
It was a cool, crisp morning as I drove down a Pennsylvania back road on the way to my first fox hunt. The sky was clear and blue, and the bright sunshine illuminating the frost-covered field brought an agreeable white freshness to the landscape. The sights along the way were what one … Read more