The prism of death often provides an excellent perspective to influence how to live. Thus, the book Life Stories of Dying Penitents or Sick Calls from the Diary of a Missionary Priest invites the reader to make serious, profound, hopeful and tragic reflections. Originally published in the late nineteenth century, the book … Read more
There is good news in America today. Unemployment is down as the economy is booming. Jobs are available to all. Happy times should be here again. An economy-centered vision of society holds that plentiful jobs automatically lead to happiness. Give everyone a good job, they claim, and it will increase the person’s … Read more
If there is an image that represents the present state of the nation, it might be a pressure cooker. Such cooking devices are not much used in these microwave days of instant everything. The hermetically sealed appliance uses steam pressure to penetrate foods and cook them quickly with a lower loss of … Read more
Every one of us will have to face death one day. Dr. Paul Kalanithi gives a stirring account of facing his own mortality in his recently-published, posthumous memoir When Breath Becomes Air. His insights about death and the interesting journey to his chosen profession of medicine make for compelling reading, filled with … Read more
In his book Leisure, the Basis of Culture, the German philosopher Josef Pieper claims that the greatest victory of Marxist socialism in the twentieth century was to convince man that he is primarily a worker. Indeed, one ramification of this problem was the death of leisure and the development of so many … Read more