The Transcendent Art of Video Games

The Transcendent Art of Video Games

When you live in the rarefied realm of a Jesuit community, you quickly get to know your brothers, inside and out, and it was not long after I entered this least Society before my own secret was revealed: I am a video gamer.  I took some good-natured ribbing (and still...
It Would Have Been Enough

It Would Have Been Enough

Since Taizé prayer services often have impressive displays of lights whose beauty helps aid prayer, I was not surprised to see a darkened room full of candles when I arrived at the light service, but I was surprised to see them hovering in midair! As a part of World...
32 Reasons to Celebrate Labor Day

32 Reasons to Celebrate Labor Day

1. Labor is a right with a history of wrongs.   2. Labor infuses life with a meaning that not even retirement can take away.   3. Labor is a misnomer. It begins nine months earlier than they say it does.   4. Labor is the smile mom forced to snuff out...
#tbt-VMA’s

#tbt-VMA’s

For this Throwback Thursday, we remember MTV’s fabled end-of-summer tradition: the Video Music Awards. It’s the annual gathering of music’s biggest stars vying for the famous Moon Man statues and we all have come to expect not just amazing music performances – we have...
The Spirituality of Sports Fanaticism

The Spirituality of Sports Fanaticism

When I was younger, my friends and I used to dress up in matching costumes and play a game in which we pretended to fight fierce creatures like “wildcats” and “bears.” We were in our late teens at the time, and our game is more commonly known as high school...
How God Looks at Us

How God Looks at Us

“I see the resemblance!” the well-intentioned but unknowing older woman said to me.  I was sitting outside a Starbucks on a cloudy morning in a formerly crisp, now saliva-soaked, oxford shirt.  I was holding my friend’s wife’s 5 week old baby.  And although I couldn’t...
Mike of the Badlands

Mike of the Badlands

Some who have observed him over the past 37 years at Red Cloud think that Brother Mike Zimmerman, tall, sinewy, wearer of industrial sized tinted eye-glasses and low-heeled brown boots, lead-footed driver of ancient army trucks and careening gunmetal Camrys, guardian...
When No One Is Looking

When No One Is Looking

Here’s a fact I am not proud of – I behave differently when I wear my Roman collar.  That’s right.  I am often a bit nicer.  I am a less aggressive driver.  I actually eat healthier, too.  I wish it were not the case.  I wish I was at my best all the time, but...
Remain In Love: To Live Without Leaving

Remain In Love: To Live Without Leaving

  My last day in Rio was a lonely one. My newfound friends had mostly left the city, moving on to new adventures or returning home to the same old thing but different – accomplished, enamored, inspired. I was exhausted. I had no energy to travel, see the sights,...