American author Laird Barron once said "Mom was all about hellfire and brimstone. Her Old Testament God was a colossal, ancient brute, a maelstrom of blood and fire, of appetite and wrath." Sounds familiar.
Our society has been shaped by a narrative, both subtle and overt, about how we think of God. And, for many…
Fr. Barnabas Powell
The dictionary defines the word "obligation" as "an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment." When I was growing up, my mother taught me that I wasn't free to do what I wanted until I did what I must. In other words, I had…
When we were very young, my brother and I got up one early Christmas morning to see what we got for Christmas. Now, mind you, our parents were still sound asleep. But did that stop us? Did we go and wake them up first? No! And boy we had a blast, I remember one toy…
God gives us the gift of The Poor to save us from our own Spiritual Poverty! Call Fr. Barnabas during the show at 1-855-237-2346!
Our busy lives really do challenge us in keeping our priorities in the right order, don't they? We moderns are a complicated mishmash of schedules, opportunities, affluence, and "freedom." And that multiplication of events, desires, hopes, and advertisements don't seem to be slowing down. It seems that each new day brings a new barrage of…
In 1972 Stevie Wonder released the song Superstition. The opening guitar licks are still one the the most famous opening lines of any song I remember from my youth. But the lyrics always fascinated me, I guess because I was raised in the rural South and we had lots of superstitions. Things like black cats…
Politics makes strange bedfellows. When I start talking politics, especially as a priest, it makes folks (rightfully) nervous. After all, as a priest, I'm supposed to focus on being accessible and available to all people regardless of their positions on this or that political matter. And that's true.
But I've also found it extremely helpful…
Do you know the difference between a barrier and a threshold? It's actually quite an important distinction.
The old saying goes "good fences make good neighbors" and there's no disputing that clear boundaries are necessary in relationships for there to be healthy communion between persons. But, what happens when a boundary gets used to diminish…
"I know a shortcut!" And with that, me a my buddy promptly got lost going to a friend's house! You see, I remember the days before GPS! Yes, I'm THAT old. By the way, are you aware that we now have a generation growing up that will never know what the world was like before…
It was frustrating not having the whole story. It felt like I was on a bridge that was only half finished. No matter how hard you try you're never going to cross a bridge half built.
And yet we all too often make final decisions about small and big issues in our lives without the "whole…