Creator – Madison Catholic Herald

I experienced a miracle! A few days ago, I held in my arms my first grandbaby — newly born Faith Annmarie.

Thank God she’s healthy and perfectly formed. And as I was looking at her, I reflected how wonderfully she is made: arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, toes, eyes, mouth, nose, ears, as well as what I couldn’t see but was just as real — hundreds of different tissues, dozens of organs including the remarkable brain, and trillions of cells.

And then I reflected on her divinely infused eternal soul.

On August 27, 2015

Fr. Robert Barron

Mother Nature is one unreliable lady

Conservation International has sponsored a series of videos that have become YouTube sensations, garnering millions of views.

They feature famous actors — Harrison Ford, Kevin Spacey, Robert Redford, and others — voicing different aspects of the natural world, from the ocean, to the rain forest, to redwood trees. The most striking is the one that presents Mother Nature herself, given voice by Julia Roberts.

Nature’s indifference

They all have more or less the same message, namely, that nature finally doesn’t give a fig for human beings, that it is far greater than we, and will outlast us. Here are some highlights from the Mother’s speech:

On April 9, 2015

Fr. Robert Barron

Why our democracy trusts in God

I was pleased that the United States Supreme Court dismissed a suit brought by Michael Newdow, a Sacramento man who wanted to remove the phrase “In God We Trust” from the nation’s coins and paper currency, as well as from the fronts of our public buildings.

The argument that the gentleman brought forward was that this custom somehow violates the First Amendment guarantee that the government shall make no law either establishing an official religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion in the United States.

On December 28, 2011

Tom Nelson

How we eat is as important as what we eat

The season of celebrating the Nativity of Jesus Christ is complete with abundant opportunities for eating, many from long-held family traditions and others might just be questionable habits we have picked up in our daily struggle to make ends meet and jam another activity into our already over-scheduled daily routines.

What if the old maxim “You are what you eat” also included “You are how you eat”?

A fast-food culture

For instance, when was the last time I ate by myself from a fast-food drive-up window?

On November 10, 2011February 15, 2022

Mary C. Uhler

In the autumn of the year: A time to remember some lessons and blessings

Although I love spring, autumn is also a special time of the year. There are things I like about autumn, but there are things that bother me, too.

We live on a street lined with trees on both sides of the road. I enjoy watching the leaves on the trees change from green to yellow, gold, and red. What a beautiful sight!

But those leaves start falling from the trees, and that means lots of blowing and raking. We get our yard clear of leaves and pile them on the curb to be picked up, then we start again as more leaves fall. Of course, they don’t all fall at the same time. It’s frustrating when we think we’ve gotten the leaves all cleared and wake up the next morning to see the lawn full again — many of them having blown in from our neighbors’ yards.

On August 25, 2011

Tom Nelson

Closing rural post offices makes no sense

Rural life is a daily challenge to survive on most days; we citizens blessed enough to live in the beauty of the country often are too busy trying to get by to really enjoy all the scenic views of the rural landscape.

At this very moment I am looking at the tree-line between my property and the old Gilbertson Farm west of our home and billowing out in huge clouds of white smoke are the fiery fingers of flames that are consuming my neighbor’s cow barn.

On February 24, 2011

Tom Nelson

Food, eating, and Lent

Eating is a sacred act, for it represents the natural inclination for sustenance which powers all living bodies and therefore is the life-sustaining force of the Creator.

The Psalmist wrote: “(O Lord) You raise grass for the cattle, and vegetation for men’s use, Producing bread from the earth and wine to gladden men’s hearts, So that their faces gleam with oil, and bread fortifies the hearts of men” (Psalm 104: 14, 15).

In the same passage he continues, “They all look to you to give them food in due time. When you give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.”

Tending the earth

In the earliest section of the Genesis narrative, God the Creator blows life into a shaped lump of earthen clay and from this act of His spirit the human family was born.