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The Prodigal Son’s Brother
Recently, while giving a series of lectures, I was confronted by a rather angry man who accused me of being soft on hell, God’s judgment and God’s justice. Though angry,
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Religion’s True Birthright
Recently I was part of a panel which was interviewing people who were hoping to enter full-time ministry in the church. One of the questions we asked everyone we interviewed
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Ordinary Ground is Holy
Some years ago, a confrere of mine wrote a simple unpretentious poem which he dedicated to his 10-year-old niece after she had given him a tour of the rather humble
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Truth With Gentleness
Jesus was once asked why he spoke in parables. His answer is more than a little curious: “I speak in parables . . . lest they should see with their
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Called Out Of Darkness
Hans Urs Von Baltasar once wrote: “After a mother has smiled for a long time at her child, the child will begin to smile back; she has awakened love in
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Love Is Resilient
We know that Christ has risen from the dead because, despite all death and wound, love exists and love continues in the world. Charity is the new life of Easter.
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The Pursuit Of Innocence
Annie Dillard once wrote about innocence: “Innocence is not the prerogative of infants and puppies, and far less of mountains and fixed stars, which have no prerogatives at all. It
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A Shallow Compassion
The dictionary defines euthanasia as “the practice of killing for reasons of mercy.” Until recently, virtually everywhere, this was considered both criminal and immoral. Today, in the Western world at
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Dying In Order To Live
Leo Tolstoy once commented that “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” I like to think that restlessness is like that, it takes many forms but each of
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In Praise Of Fools
Dostoyevski once suggested that part of what’s wrong with our world is that fools take themselves seriously and we neglect to take the talk of fools seriously. Moreover we have