Author page: Fr. Barnabas Powell

"Why do you hate me?" I can't ever seem to get over the shock of someone assuming that, because I disagree with him, I must then, therefore, hate him. This is an amazing and modern phenomenon that to disagree with someone is to hate them. To point out the flaw in someone's argument is to…

"He was doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons." Frankly, when I heard that, I didn't even realize that was even possible. But it is. You really can do all the right things for all the wrong reasons, and then you're amazed when the "right doing" doesn't produce the "happiness" you were…

You remember the trick, don't you? "This is the house and this is the steeple, open the door and there's the people." It was shown to me first by a Sunday School teacher wanting to illustrate just how important it was to go to church. What I loved is the sheer inventiveness of this simple…

"He's a liar!" Yep, he sure is, and his actions send ripples throughout his life and the lives of so many others. We were discussing a politician we both knew. But, here's the rub; this politician held many of the same values and positions we both felt strongly about. However, this politician had been caught in…

"But I don't understand!" How many times have I said these very words concerning something I was going through in my life? If I had a nickel for every time I said this or heard this, especially from my children, I'd be very wealthy. The truth Is I really don't understand many things. As I look…

"OK, so let me get this straight? You just threw yourself in front of the punch and took it for the guy? And look, the only thing you got out of it was a black eye!" My buddy just didn't understand why a fellow officer would put himself in harms way for a "civilian" during a…

This is the crux of the matter. This is the issue that stands at the heart of the human conflict about God. This is the basic difference between Christianity and all other forms of religion. This is a big deal! She said "Yes!" Right here during our Lenten journey the Church brings us to one of the…

There's a prevailing notion that the mere granting of mental assent is believing. But is that really true? Does simply saying you think something is true mean you truly believe it? I know we live in a society that likes to reduce life to "manageable" sizes. We want to reduce achievement to "imagine the possibilities." We…

Here's a brain teaser for you: One special place sets you free to make all places special; but if all places are special without one particular place being special then no place is special! Huh? Sorry this comes on a Monday morning, but it never hurts to get the intellectual juices flowing early! It's the concept of…

We live in an age where "marvelous" and "wonderful" have been tamed. We hear these words and immediately get excited about the "good" things happening! But this definition that "marvelous" and "wonderful" always mean "pleasant" and "positive" things is a reflection of our own shallow age. Through centuries of human existence, these words have also conveyed…