Tag: don

On
Fr. Donald Lange

Let’s renew our commitment to defend all human life

Pablo Casals, the great cellist and conductor, gazed at a baby and exclaimed, “You are unique. In the millions of years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. And look at your body; what a wonder it is! Your exquisite legs, your arms, your cunning little fingers. You may become another Shakespeare, Michelangelo, or Beethoven.”

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, whose feast we celebrated on October 1, believed that people of her time feared God too much. She couldn’t understand how anyone could fear God, who came to us as a tiny helpless baby.

And yet, today there seem to be some who fear babies more than God.

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On
Bishop Robert Barron

‘Mad Men’ and the depression of Don Draper

About four years ago, I had to take the long flight to New Zealand to give a retreat to the priests of the Diocese of Christchurch.

In order to pass the time, I brought along an iPad with the entire first season of Mad Men on it. So in one very intense period, I got immersed in the world of Don Draper, a world that I vaguely remember from my own childhood — not the booze and the affairs, of course, but the look, the feel, the colors, the way people moved and talked.

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On
Fr. Donald Lange

Assumption: God’s response to Mary’s faithful service

On August 15, we celebrate Mary’s Assumption into heaven.

In no. 966 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church it says, “The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.”

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On
Fr. Donald Lange

Let us make every day an Earth Day

On clear mornings from my apartment window which faces Platteville’s Mound, I enjoy watching the morning sun, like a huge orange-red host, rise majestically from earth’s chalice, inspiring me to offer a new day to God.

Beautiful sunrises deepen my respect for God’s gift of creation. Celebrating Earth Day on April 22 reminds me of my responsibility to care for this gift.

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On
Fr. Donald Lange

Easter’s eternal surprise

In February 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, Ruth Dillow received the sad news from the Pentagon that her son Clayton had stepped on a mine in Kuwait and was killed.

Ruth said that the grief and shock she felt was almost unbearable. For three days she wept constantly. For three days family and friends tried to comfort her, but they could not. Her grief was too great! She felt some of the grief that Mary surely experienced when her son, Jesus, was crucified.

Surprising news

After the third day, the telephone rang. “It’s just another stranger trying to comfort me,” she thought. Reluctantly, she picked up the phone. The voice on the phone shouted joyfully, “Mom, it’s me. I’m still alive! It’s me!”

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