A Homily for the 25th Sunday of the Year Today’s gospel tells of workers who put in long hours then gripe about their pay. Sound familiar? What comes to mind when you hear the word, work? Puttin’ in time? Punchin’ a clock? Another day, another dollar? If so, follow the gospel’s nudge and take the commute to that place where you...

It’s 7 AM. The tent is folded, the cooler packed, and I’m gassing up at a filling station in Doe Run, Missouri. Yesterday, my dog, Guapo, and I logged over seven hundred miles on our Midwestern road trip. When the pump shuts off, I pull my truck next to the dumpsters at the edge of the parking lot. I turn off the ignition and offer Morning P...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade magazine. Tim Bennett describes losing a job and finding the meaning of work. I was laid off about 18 months ago. I had known it was coming for several months, but that didn’t make losing my income any easier. Since I had seen the writing on the wall, I’d been looking for other e...

It was one of those seemingly innocuous events that should have been long ago forgotten. Instead, it is etched in my memory. When I was growing up in the 1950s, Lawler, Iowa was a bustling little village. One of our local entrepreneurs, Gus Schael, owned a hatchery that was great fun for little kids, but a pain for the local postmaster. It was...

There are certain occupations that are obviously incompatible with being Catholic. For example, a doctor who performs abortions or assisted suicide; any business involving prostitution or pornography; selling illegal drugs or performing any other work that requires you to engage in illegal activity. But what about other occupations that might have ...

Who am I? This is the persistent question of modern man. Many end up defining themselves by their work. Is this wise? Is this the best approach for Christian men? After many years of languishing on my endless reading list I finally got around to reading Josef Pieper’s modern classic, Leisure: the Basis of Culture. For those not familiar with t...

We’ve got a small problem on my property, Olgi Golgis run rampant. You can’t hear them or see them, but they are there. I’m not really sure if they are some kind of monster or just bad guys, but the war against them is fought whenever there is a chance to do battle. They appear regularly while we are doing chores, when the kids are at play, a...

Justice is generally best known by its counterpart – injustice. Justice has been defined as giving everyone their due or using strengths as a means to provide for the betterment of those who are marginalized or vulnerable. Many might label as fair, honest or upholding integrity. Again, justice tends to be exemplified when it is most absent. ...

Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo is often called the beginning of contemporary Catholic social teaching because it was the first encyclical to deal with the unprecedented disruptions of traditional societal order due to the industrial revolution.  For fathers, Rerum is one of the most important encyclicals of the modern era, because in it Pope Leo recogniz...

“I am fed up with my job!” How many of us have said this. Yes, I am raising my hand too. I think that one of the biggest reasons people get fed up comes from the inability to rest well. There are obviously two extremes in this work/ life balance. On the one hand, you can spend all your time working and never get a real break where you leave ...