We heard the story of the healing of the blind man from John 9 today at St. Margaret of Scotland parish; John Kavanaugh, a Jesuit philosophy professor, presided at the liturgy and dwelled on a phrase that struck me as a painter: “seeing is believing.” The man who was cured believed...

“Lagniappe,” I thought. This good word from New Orleans came to me in the freezing streets of Chicago last week. I had taken the train up for a meeting of a new group that is responsible for vocation promotion. (Naturally I kept humming Steve Goodman's song about the “City of New Orleans” train, even...

Haiti has been in the news and on my mind. Besides what the newspapers and TV are showing, I have edited news about Jesuits for this web site. Fortunately, no Jesuits died in the earthquake and very few buildings were damaged. Even better, the Jesuits were able to swing into action trying to help people...

Today is the first day of the new semester. I know that because I am the only one of the six Jesuits in my community who does not work at the university. The others have enjoyed almost a month since the last semester ended. Their conversation on this Monday was very future-oriented:...

Question: What is the difference between a theoretically good idea and a practically good idea? Answer: About 20 degrees. Or at least that is what occurred to me yesterday as I began the first new plein aire painting in a few weeks. I stole the good idea of returning to the same spot in all the seasons...

The weather changed yesterday, with a furious, frigid wind scattering the few dry leaves left on the streets. The fast moving storm front put a definite end to autumn. I don't remember it ever getting this cold in Rome, but now that I am back in St. Louis working at the province offices I better get...