St. John’s Bonfire
“Filomena, Filomena! Mama says make it quick. Mama, Papa, Francisco and I are already ready!” blurted ten-year-old Fatima.
“I know; I’ll be out in a minute!” Filomena called back in exasperation.
Author: LSMeditors
St. John the Baptist’s Birthday
Saint John the Baptist, a man not shaken by the wind, a man not dressed in the finery of the palace, eater of locusts. Well, that last one doesn’t sound quite as impressive, but he did eat locusts as well as whatever he could find in the desert near the Jordan River. He lived the life God called him to live, and he lived it well, so he has a feast day in the Calendar of Saints….
Read MoreMidsummer Mysteries
One of the merry mysteries of midsummer
Is that midsummer isn’t midsummer at all
Maybe it was, back in the shadows of time
When Tolkien’s fairies blessed a happier world
Falling into the Black
The hell hole was vanishing. Suddenly, a black, hairy arm thrust out of the darkness and grabbed me by the vest, yanking me into the hole.
“WALTER!” Conrad cried as I fell into the darkness.
Concerning Fanfiction
The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia… There’s no doubt about it, we readers and writers love fanfiction.
Read MoreGraduation Speech Soup – Simply Stir and Serve
Have you noticed that despite all speakers’ efforts, graduation speeches sound very much alike? “Keep the torch alive to pass to a new generation with the key that unlocks the road to the future…”
Read MoreThe Mermaid of St. Eulalia
He raised his flashlight and finally caught whoever it was. It was a girl, with long brown hair that fell down her back and across her chest, and almost translucent white skin. But she was no human, she had a purple and green tail where her legs should be. The scales ran all the way up her body, ending just below her collarbone.
Read MoreAunt Nancy’s Angels
“Gather around girls, gather around! It’s story time!” Aunt Nancy, the headmistress of the orphanage, sat down in her usual chair, the rocking chair set in the corner next to the fireplace.
Read MoreThe 7th of June, 1944 and 1970
My father beached at Normandy on the second day
(He was okay with having missed the first)
From there through France to Belgium in the mud
For a bloody Christmas in the icy Bulge
A Short Discourse on Friendship
One of those Ancient Greek philosophers – Aristotle, maybe – said that there were three types of friendship. Whatever he called them, I’m going to call them the Fun Friend, the Useful Friend and the True Friend.
Read MoreThis Homely Land
This massive land that I see
Spread from sea to shining sea
Is a very unique lot
It’s been called a melting pot…
Memorial Day 2021
Memorial Day is when we remember our friends
As they were…
Bubbles and Snowflakes: Thoughts on Vulnerability
Each of us has a place inside, deep inside our inmost being, hidden away from prying eyes and mocking words. It is a place of snowflakes and bubbles, of hopes and fears. It is a place in which one wrong move means catastrophe…
Read MoreA Brief Review of Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers
If today you find yourself in the company of Texas Rangers, no matter who you are, you know that truth and justice will prevail. But it was not always so, and that is the thesis of Doug J. Swanson’s disturbing but well-documented book, Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers.
Read MoreDaddyPaw’s Letters from the CCC Camp
He found his DaddyPaw’s young adulthood
In a box of letters from New Mexico
About fighting forest fires and building fence
To the stockyards at Magdalena
Daily Bread
“I want to fully partake in the experience that is being a Christian,” Nicanor 112 said.
“I thought you were already doing that. You’ve got your own Robo Church and everything.”
“I need the Lord’s Supper, Alexander.”
Color Me Crimson
As history’s mundane toil, and epic battles ensue
It’s clear no race is exempt
From ways that are imperfect, unkempt.
To God, Who Gives Joy
You still approach the Altar as a child
As you once were, and are, and will be forever
For God will have it so, will have you so –
Enchanted by His magic – a little boy
The Mangled Tree
She comes back almost every morning to pray aloud and silently beneath the tree. Sometimes, I hear a few words of The Lord’s Prayer carried by the wind to my ears. This must be her sacred space.
Read MoreAre You Ready?
The big V Vocation is our ultimate call to one of the three following categories; religious life, married life, or consecrated single life. In order for us to discover complete fulfillment in life, a desire with which each individual is born, we must open our hearts to God’s whisper.
Read More
LogoSophia Magazine 