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“The Breakfast Club” and Molly Ringwald and 2 Millennials in a Deli

Overheard at the Deli: Millennial #1: “I don’t get ragging on Breakfast Club like it’s all harassment and stuff. What does she want, movies w/no stories b/c they eliminate human nature?” Millennial #2: “Yes. Eliminating human nature is the whole point.” Millennial #1: (Emphatic agreement) “RIGHT?” Millennial #2: “So it’s all superheroes now. Deli counter guy, to me: “I’m never havin’ kids…” I took my leave, thinking, “Well then, I guess “mission accomplished?” I need to Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Easter Fiction: What the Soldiers Saw

He is Risen! Truly He is Risen! Indulge me, please, a little fiction — a brief imagining of what it might have been like for the guards who missed that moment when Christ defeated Death!  – ES He was not afraid. Of course he was not. Only, he could not seem to open his eyes. The air was soft, light on his skin. In the sun’s warmth it should have felt as soothing as a Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Baseball Begins! Life just got better

Photo: Anc516-cc There is nothing like walking into a local mom and pop store and hearing the singular sound of a baseball game playing in the background — crack of the bat, whiff of the ball into the leather. It’s grounding in the way walking into a well-used church is grounding. And as another baseball season begins, the fans all come back out of hiding, everybody sets up their new fantasy team, and everything just Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Pondering Christ as the Rabbi on the Cross

Image: Anthony Muhs, with permission Over at Word on Fire, my piece this week contemplates the “Lessons from the Rabbi on the Cross” — a meditation that came about thanks to the unusual cross featured above, not a crucified Christ, but also Christ the High Priest, and the King. For me, something else seemed evident, too, even if only in my own mind: As with a crucifix, this Christ is before bare-footed, arms splayed wide, Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Apparently, Facebook is listening: What about the Confessional?

Image: Public Domain In his testimony before the British Parliament, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christoper Wylie is testifying that Facebook has the ability to “listen in” on us as we go about our business at work and at home. Said Wylie: “On a comment about using audio and processing audio, you can use it for, my understanding generally of how companies use it… not just Facebook, but generally other apps that pull audio, is for environmental context,” Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Nuns and “Nones”: Mama, We’re all missionaries, now…

Nun talking to women on steps of Basilica of Guadalupe. Image: Daniel Case-cc It’s no secret that I have a high regard for Catholic nuns and religious sisters and believe that, since at least the Middle Ages, they have functioned much like the Central Nervous System of the Body of Christ —  observant, reactive, automatic, mostly unacknowledged yet wholly necessary. As #NationalCatholicSistersWeek comes to a close, my piece at Word on Fire this week looks back Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

“Little Sins Means a Lot” honored by Catholic Publishers

Well, lookee what just arrived in my mailbox. I feel like it’s Christmas and I’ve just received a “major award” although not one marked “fragile”! Thanks to the Association of Catholic Publishers for recognizing my most recent book, Little Sins Mean a Lot: Kicking Our Bad Habits Before They Kick Us. It was meant for a Lenten publish but — as sometimes happens in publishing — was released closer to the summer. Getting this certificate Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Meet Frances of Rome at Word on Fire!

To be perfectly honest, I approached writing my first piece for Word on Fire Ministries with a bit of trepidation — the old fear and trembling — both because I wanted to do right by this saint, and because it’s my first piece for Word on Fire Ministries, and I wanted to do right by them, too. And of course, I wanted to do right by the readers. Fortunately, it’s really hard to write badly Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Why did Moses grind up the golden calf into a powder?

In today’s Office of Readings, we come to the dramatic moment in Exodus 32, when stupid Aaron (really, what was he thinking?) tries to appease the unrelentingly dim multitudes by collecting their gold earrings and forming a calf for them to worship. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron, who accepted their offering, and fashioning this gold with a graving tool, made a molten calf. Then they cried out, Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

How one young woman’s suffering was redeemed through a single word and act

Featured Image: Rannah Evetts, Founder and Director of St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, Uganda. St Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, photo source. Act, and God will act, work, and he will work. – St. Joan of Arc Joan of Arc’s advice plays out in full in the profoundly moving and instructive story of Rannah Evetts, a remarkable 22 year-old woman who took the pain and suffering from her experiences as Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago