All Hallows' Eve      Tuesday, October 31st, is Halloween, or better, All Hallows’ Eve, which is to say, All Saints’ Eve.  Wednesday, November 1st, is All Saints’ Day.  Tuesday, the vigil before All Saints’ Day, is the eve of All Saints. All Saints’ Day is a celebration of all the blessed of Heaven.       Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of Lourdes Church is a Vigil Mass for All Saints’ Day, and Wednesday morning at 9:00 AM at Our Lady of Lourdes Church is the Mass for All Saints’ Day. Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM at St. Joseph’s Church in Boron will also be a Mass for All Saints’ Day.       The Apostles’ Creed states, “I believe in the communion of saints.”  The Apostle St. John saw, in vision, the Heavenly scene: “I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands” ( Revelation 7:9 ).       It w

St. Francis of Assisi: Stigmata & Praise      October 4th was the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi. Everybody loves St. Francis!       What St. Francis loved most of all was Jesus! One of the prayers in the Liturgy for his feast day refers to “the mystery of the Cross which St. Francis so ardently embraced.”       In 1224, two years before his death, on a morning near to September 14th (Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross), St. Francis was praying alone on a mountain top. (Well, Brother Leo was supposed to be somewhere else, but he snuck back to stay and observe his beloved father “alone” at prayer, which is how we know the story.) Francis was in the midst of a 40-day fast, praying fervently, in deep contemplation with ecstasy.       Then it happened: a vision of a gleaming six-winged seraph descending from heaven. As the seraph quickly flew towards him, Francis could see that the seraph was crucified! It was the Lord! Jesus Crucified! Francis’ soul felt joy mingled wit

Miracles & "Scientism"       One of the toxic and false ideas of our age might be called scientism, the idea that science is the only path to truth.       One online definition of “science” is, “the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.” The earlier, classic definition of “science” was “knowledge of any kind,” meaning, of course, human knowledge.       Is human knowledge the only path to truth? To knowing “what is”? (The best definition of “truth.”) Is, “systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world,” the only path to truth? Even if we don’t understand everything about a cell, an atom, and how the universe works today, might we someday expect human science to figure it all out?       No.       Why does the world exist? Why do I exist? What am I here for? Am I only tissue? Then why and how do I have c