Tag: Calvary

On
Tony Magliano

Making the way of the cross with Jesus

Writing a column on social justice and peace offers me plenty of timely issues to choose from. And I always truly sense from God the exact issue he desires that I write on.

I’m not claiming here any special revelation. God’s active, guiding presence is available to everyone. All we need to do is deeply trust, quietly listen, and patiently wait.

Now in my case, God knows I’m on a deadline. And almost always his Spirit graciously gives me plenty of lead time. But regarding this particular column, the Spirit seemed to be silent, that is, until I visited a parishioner at the Little Sisters of the Poor’s home for the elderly in Baltimore.

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On
Fr. Robert Barron

Calvary: portrait of a priest-shepherd

St. Pope John Paul II said that a priest should have the heart of Christ the Good Shepherd.

Far too many saccharine paintings of effeminate Jesuses in the midst of delicate lambs have conduced toward a misconstrual of this image as something sentimental and harmless.

But shepherds not only had the smell of their sheep (to use Pope Francis’ language), but they also wielded a stick to bring back strays and fend off threats. Real shepherding was, and is, a dirty, hard-edged business.

John Michael McDonagh’s film Calvary shows, with extraordinary vividness, what authentic spiritual shepherding looks like and how it feels for a priest to have a shepherd’s heart.

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