Fr. Gaetano Piccolo
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy.” - Jeremiah 15:16 What in life seems incomprehensible, many times comes to reveal itself as utterly essential. There are transitions we make in life without realizing it, transitions marked by...
“You were within, and I was outside. And there I sought after you.” - Augustine When he was a young man, Augustine invented a fable to describe the obstacles he faced in his search for truth. The fable is about Philocalia (love of beauty) and Philosofia (love of...
“They say that one who is satiated cannot understand someone who is hungry; to that, I would add that one hungry person does not understand another hungry person.” - Dostoevsky Every one of us hungers. Every one of us seeks for something that will nourish us. We...
“Life is always a triumph of the improbable and a miracle of the unexpected.” - Henri de Lubac Making a decision is never easy. But it is even harder when we have to decide between two good things. Choosing which has priority is not always clear-cut. Feelings of...
Life is a great journey that constantly calls us to leave ourselves behind in order to follow that uncertain desire that drives us. “It’s very difficult, in geography as in morality, to understand the world without leaving your own house.” - Voltaire And the...
When my mother notices that I’m trying to hide something from her or that I’m trying, good-naturedly, to tease her, she always reminds me quite colorfully that she is the one who made me! She knows me so well that she perceives my mood from the tone of my voice....
Gospel Reflection for Mark (5:21-43) When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he...
Catholic Bible Study for the Solemnity of the birth of Saint John the Baptist: Our lives are made of broken promises, promises that we make to ourselves and are unable to keep. And yet, somehow, these promises help us live because they spur us on and give us a goal....
“Living is the infinite patience of always starting over.” Ermines Ronchi A few days ago, I was listening to my friend Massimo and his mother discuss their gardens and vineyard. Much of it was lost on me but I was struck by one detail: they had to wait for the...
“If God has created all things, where does evil come from?” - Saint Augustine When we feel inadequate, fragile, or guilty, we immediately look for something to hide behind. We are ashamed of our nudity. We don’t want to be seen. It’s a recurring sensation throughout...
Meditation for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ “These things, brothers and sisters, are called Sacraments, for in them on thing is seen while another is signified.” - Saint Augustine. The famous psychologist, Zygmunt Bauman, said that getting...
A Catholic Bible Study on the Holy Gospel according to Matthew 28:16-20 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to...
When the string of a pearl necklace snaps and the pearls fly off in all directions, bouncing across a pale marble floor, they seem like jets of water flying out of a broken water pipe or like unruly children running to hide in the most unlikely places. Trying...
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark (16:15-20) Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will...
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 15:9-17 Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in...
“He lost himself in dreams of what could have been had he just left; left without saying anything; left forever, without ever returning home again.” ~ Pirandello Who among us has not felt the urge to just run away and leave everything? This was the case with...
“We love only that which is beautiful.” ~ Augustine Freedom has a price, but does love? How much does love cost? Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver. Joseph, in the book of Genesis, was sold into slavery by his brothers. And Orpheus had to make a bargain with...
Gospel Reflection “Tell us, Mary: say / what thou didst see / upon the way.” ~ from the Easter Sequence They say that Homer was blind. We can’t be sure, but we can imagine that when we are looking for the right words within us, when we are immersed in the inner...
“What is your aim in philosophy?” “To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.” ~ Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost Paraphrasing Wittgenstein, we can say that the aim of the Resurrection is to show us the way out of the places in which we are trapped, from the...
“At Christmas I no more desire a rose / Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows; / But like of each thing that in season grows...” ~ Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost Seeds cannot be sown at just any time of year. Everything has its time. The life of the...
“The imagination is more active in the dark than in the light of day.” ~ Immanuel Kant When we were young, we were afraid of the dark because we couldn’t distinguish the things around us. In the silence of the night, every sound seems louder. In the dark, it’s not...
“Words are choice and precious vessels that can be filled with anything, even the wine of error.” ~ Augustine, the Confessions Words express the way we relate with the world. If we pay attention to the way we speak, we will probably grasp something about the way we...
Children are the future. They are the lives that continue on. Parents often project their aspirations onto their children and would like to see their hopes fulfilled in them. But, much like the future, the life of a child is not within our control. Though we might...
“Though in Your sight I despise myself and reckon myself dust and ashes, there is something I know about You, which I know not about myself.” - Augustine, The Confessions A few days ago I was with some close friends in Subiaco, (where St. Benedict first founded a...
“Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wing; for he did not know what to do, he was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds.” - Han...