Christina Grimmie's "Media Revolution" Lives On

Yesterday marked nine years and eleven months since the phenomenal young singer, songwriter, and musician Christina Grimmie was murdered by a deranged man after a concert in Orlando, Florida. He then turned his gun on himself, leaving behind no clear indication of a motive or anything to suggest the tortured thought process that led him to the concert that night armed with two Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistols, two rounds of replacement ammunition, and a hunting knife. He had more than enough to carry out a mass shooting, but Christina was, apparently, his primary target. The evil in this tragedy is clouded in obscurity. Several TV "true crime" shows have tried to speculate on the details based on hearsay (regarding his internet-based obsession with Christina Grimmie) and the theories of psychiatrists about stalkers and shooters and the dangers of being a "celebrity." Marcus Grimmie, Christina's brother and guitarist, said they had never seen the man before. Nor was their any evidence of (or warning signs from) recent internet harassment. From the point of view of the shooter, very little is really known of his dark and sad story.

Yet the darkness of this lethal aggression was inches away from the shining light of a gratuitous love. Christina was shot a point blank range. In the end, this violence needed no clever strategy to find its target. She came forward with arms wide open, ready to offer a welcoming hug at her meet-and-greet to an approaching man who seemed troubled and shy. It was clear that she didn't know him, but there were always new people at her concerts who had watched and heard her sing on YouTube and on television in the Spring 2014 season of The Voice. They had experienced the warmth and encouragement and personal affirmation that Christina offered through her presence on the internet. 

Christina wanted to meet all of these people. Her meet-and-greets were not reserved for VIPs and they didn't cost money. She and Marcus would stay at the venue until she met everyone who wanted to meet her, and she took time to listen to their stories and encourage them one-on-one, face-to-face. She called her fans "frands" (friend-fans) which might sound naive, overly sentimental or even false if someone else did it, but - for some reason - it was totally authentic and real coming from Christina. Her capacity to "connect with" young people all over the world through YouTube and her other social media platforms was (and still is) utterly unique.

She had a gift. Her music stood out, of course. But Christina's personal approach in videos and livestreams had nothing flashy or obviously special about it. She was a kid and then a young adult — goofy, funny, sometimes awkward (but with a wonderful sense of humor about herself), passionate about her music, full of life — but there was nothing about her that would strike a casual watcher as extraordinary. She had no "influencer tricks," no weird cultish "charisma," no emotionally manipulative techniques. Yet she gained an enormous YouTube following long before the "influencer culture" took off. Christina never sold anything in her videos. She promoted her recorded music on iTunes, but in a natural way, as someone who gave away most of her music for free in her YouTube videos. She did ask her frands to vote for her in contests, and was effusive with gratitude when she won those contests.

I can't explain the deep humanity of her media presence. It doesn't necessarily strike one immediately, and indeed it is easy to miss it if one isn't paying attention. But it's real. At some point in the course of watching her videos, one begins to realize that, for Christina, the person on the other side of the screen mattered more to her than her own ego. She had a strong personality, but it always expressed itself as giving and as receiving-with-gratitude. Her media presence "opened up a space" where young people (often lonely, troubled young people) felt welcomed, engaged, and appreciated.

There are a few notable consistencies: Christina never spoke badly about anyone. She never used coarse language. Occasionally — with utter sincerity and without any agenda — she would make reference to the fact that she lived her whole life for Jesus Christ, that she loved Him, that everything was for Jesus. No sermons. When she said it, she was making reference to a fact and to a Someone who was as real to her as her mother or father. She didn't talk much about Jesus (and never artificially) but her relationship with Him was evident by the way she treated everyone else.

Christina loved her frands. Of course, every performer says that about their fans (usually sincerely). But Christina was singularly and ardently devoted to her frands. She poured herself out for them, to inspire them, mentor them, affirm their dignity, encourage them to live generously. She gave her time and attention (online and in person) to those who reached out to her. But there was nothing emotionally unbalanced about her efforts to care for her frands. She wasn't seeking self-validation by trying to get young people to feel like they needed her. Rather she was a wellspring of attentiveness and gratitude for everyone, even while she had her own focus on the work of developing and sharing her special musical talent. She was full of freshness and a sense of wonder, as if she were on an adventure toward something greater than herself and she wanted to bring everyone with her. The only way I can think of to express this is to say that she was living her life as a vocation. People enjoyed the amazing music, the fun, the youthful vitality, the goofiness, and her unique integration of wise innocence and badassery that made her compassionate toward people and bold in front of every challenge she faced. And while she never "pushed religion," she made no secret of the One she loved and sought in her singing, her relationships, her aspirations, her frands... in everything.

I have been studying communications media technology for nearly 20 years. I have watched more videos than I can remember and pondered extensively the philosophical implications of how media technology facilitates and/or hinders human interaction; and — more fundamentally — I have tried to understand what kinds of encounters take place through media, especially two-way audiovisual communications media. I have written a few tentative pieces on the subject, but it's all changing so quickly that it's difficult to "stay current" in the particulars of rapid and ongoing technological expansion.

One thing hasn't changed: I have still never seen anything like Christina Grimmie.

Part of that, of course, is that she had what was arguably the greatest singing voice of her generation, combined with a remarkable musical creativity. But it was more than that. It was this mysterious love, giving herself with a persistence that "mastered" the medium and shaped it to her message, which was that every person is unique, precious, and worthy of love. And she risked her love — on the screen, on stage, and in meeting people. Every person was welcomed, even — finally — the disturbed young man who (unknown to her) was hiding two guns under his jacket.

Over the past ten years, many people have continued to discover her through the legacy of her videos and her music. These "gifts of herself" remain, and they continue to astonish us, inspire us, make us laugh, and weep. She still moves our hearts and reminds us what it means to be human. She still helps us to keep going. She inspires us to dare to believe more vividly in something greater than the "sting" of death.

Missing My Mom on Mother's Day

We had a beautiful Mother's Day with Eileen and Emily and grown-up children and little children (grandchildren) and phone conversations with those who couldn't be there. Still, I couldn't help being struck by this being already the fifth Mother's Day since my Mom died. I miss her but my grief is growing into gratitude for all she gave me, and prayerful hope for her to attain the fullness of eternal life.

The old pictures make me feel like I have lived whole lives that are irrevocably buried in the past. But I hope for the Day when every good contained in every moment will be transformed, raised up, washed and fulfilled in the Mercy of God.

"Love One Another" — A Year With Pope Leo XIV

I can't believe it's only been one year since a Chicago-born, Peruvian Cardinal named "Bob" appeared on the balcony of the Sistine Chapel in response to the proclamation "Habemus Papam!" In one year, the "new" Bishop of Rome known to everyone as Leo XIV has already made a powerful mark on the history of the Successors of Saint Peter, especially among the people of the nation of his birth (Catholic and non-Catholic alike). I need not revisit all he has said and done, since this entire blog has been more about him than anyone else during the past year. His distinct focus on the communion-of-persons-in-fraternal-charity continues to develop our understanding of this core element of Christian and human experience. We need this in a special way in our world today with all of its alienation, division, and violence. 

Pope Leo draws on the evident prayerful depth of his own relationship with Jesus Christ, along with his lifelong experience as a missionary (and former Superior General) of the Augustinians and as a Bishop in Latin America. Beyond all of that, he has been given that unique Papal "charism" that empowers him to use his particular gifts in the service of the whole Church.

We have seen, in particular, how people in the United States are being challenged by Leo's insistence on the radical Gospel foundations of Catholic Social Teaching, as well as its reasonableness and amplitude. USA Catholics are growing in the awareness of their distinctive "Catholic" identity in Anglo-American society and some of the important responsibilities it entails.

It was fitting that the gospel reading for today (quoted above) emphasized fraternal love and its Source: God's outpouring of His love for us through Jesus Christ. This love — expressed in the context of compassion and mercy — is the way God reveals Himself, and when we experience the embrace of His love, we are raised up to a supernatural existence and empowered to respond with a love for God that participates in His absolute vitality. This same love enables us to see our fellow humans as God sees them. They are our brothers and sisters, and we are all children of God our Father who sent His Only-Begotten Son to save us and to give us a share in the communion of Trinitarian Love. This is our hope for eternity, but it also infuses and transforms our relationships even in this world, as we journey together toward that definitive Life and "work out" our salvation day by day.

UPDATE: 

In his remarks for the Regina Caeli on May 10, Pope Leo addresses the mystery of how God's love empowers us to love one another according to incomprehensible measure of His own love. This is no vague sentimental humanitarianism. It is the Christian vocation. Lived in patience and trust, this vocation always bears fruit in eternity, and also (according to God's wisdom) on the roads of this world.

"Christ says: 'If you love me, you will keep my commandments' (John 14:15). This statement frees us from the misconception that we are loved because we keep the commandments, as if our righteousness were a prerequisite for God’s love. On the contrary, God’s love is the basis for our righteousness. We truly keep the commandments according to God’s will when we recognize his love for us, just as Christ revealed it to the world. Jesus’ words are therefore an invitation to enter into a relationship, not a blackmail or a suspicious ultimatum.

"This is why the Lord commands us to love one another as he has loved us (cf. John 13:34): it is Jesus’ love that begets love within us. Christ himself is the standard, the measure of true love: the love that is faithful forever, pure and unconditional. The love that knows no 'buts' or 'maybes;' the love that gives of itself without seeking to possess; the love that gives life without taking anything in return. Because God loved us first, we too can love, and when we truly love God, we truly love one another. It is like life itself: just as only those who have received life can live, so too, only those who have been loved can love. The Lord’s commandments are therefore a way of life that heal us from false loves. They are a spiritual lifestyle that is a path towards salvation."

~Leo XIV, Regina Caeli, May 10, 2026

“Remain in Me…”

The Gospel Acclamation for Wednesday’s Liturgy (May 6). 

“Alleluia, alleluia. Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord; whoever remains in me will bear much fruit. Alleluia, alleluia.”

The Joys -- and Sorrows -- of Our "Easter Season"

We continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ during this Easter Season. It is a celebration which is eminently congruous with the journey of faith that we continue to undertake, adhering to our Risen Lord, and living as human beings in history with all the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of each day.

We understand that God's plan is mysterious. We pray, we offer, we try to embrace the sacrifices of daily life. What people often don't understand is how this deepens the sense of tenderness toward the world and other persons, toward the little things; how it makes for a greater awareness of the preciousness of life and all the gifts and the joys that God has given us in this world. [Painting: William Congdon, “The Risen Christ,” 1966]

We believe that the Mystery — God's love — is at the depths of everything, as the Creator of all things. God is the transcendent and (for that very reason) foundational Source, Sustenance, and Fulfillment of every "piece" of reality, of every apparently precarious fragment of truth, goodness, and beauty that draws our hearts from moment to moment. We meet everywhere hints of an undying goodness, a "reflected glory" that constitutes the inner reality of created things, but always as signs that move us "onward." We find nowhere to "rest," nothing that remains in the passage of time, nothing we can grasp and manipulate into a tool with which we might construct our own narrow satisfaction. Created things are gifts on our journey, awakening gratitude and joy and a mysterious longing that can "hurt" for reasons we do not comprehend.

We are made for God "alone." Who is this God? He is Love. He pours out Himself in love, and He has taken our humanity so that we might be conformed to His immeasurable glory — this God who is goodness and love, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this Father who sends His Son into our history, to fulfill all things in His Spirit.

We wrestle with the passing-away of all things in this world, with their "limits" and with our own limits. And yet with Him nothing is lost, nothing! The human heart asks for everything. And the Father's love in Jesus Christ is the answer to our heart's plea. There is no "disappointment" in the embrace of His Love.

Resurrection. Our destiny is a transfigured life forever with the Triune God, and it is a fulfillment in which we shall find everything anew; the gifts of God and the promises they awaken in our hearts are destined to be fulfilled. God and His world are not lying to us as we journey toward this destiny. The joys are a promise that the present sorrows and struggles and sufferings are not in vain. Through everything, we are being changed and "formed" for what we cannot yet imagine. We live in hope. [Painting: William Congdon, “Moon Over Cascinazza,” 1971]

Resurrection. Then we shall love and be loved. There will be no more tears, no more separation, no more of that sense of division between joy and suffering which is the arduous pilgrimage of this life — a life in which the more deeply we possess something, the more deeply aware we are that the ultimate value and beauty of what we possess remains beyond us and beyond our power to grasp. We cry out for what we love in faith and hope, we beg for that "ultimate" that becomes more evident and more painfully absent in the measure that we really risk in loving and in allowing ourselves to be loved in this life. 

We find this especially in the experience of loss. Loss seems to contradict love, and even though we know it is part of God's plan, part of our journey; even though we know that it is shaping and preparing our hearts for that fulfillment God has promised us, it remains — in this life — a kind of darkness, an absence, a wound in the heart that is itself a sign. It is a sign that our destiny remains before us, that we have not yet attained happiness, that our life remains a state of begging before God. 

This "absence" and this begging are impressed upon our poor, weak, forgetful, sinful hearts as our hearts are broken and remade. This mysterious renewal can be accomplished even in the midst of experiences that must not frighten us — anger and frustration, helplessness, distress, the lament of "Why, O God?" Misery. Grief. 

We must not be discouraged. We must abandon ourselves to the One who knows our hearts and is greater than our hearts. We must let our hearts pray. We don't understand these groanings, but God does. Let the heart pray. "The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit" (Romans 8:26-27). 

Resurrection.

Grief need not become despair. It is the Spirit moving our hearts to speak to God in ways that are beyond our thoughts and understanding. Grief is poured out. Grief is prayer. It does not forget that God is faithful to His promise. The Resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are at work in our hearts, even within the greatest sorrows we endure in the time of our Easter Season.

Clouds and Light

“Clouds and Light, Shenandoah Valley, May 2026.”

The Enduring Legacy of Saint Athanasius

I celebrated the feast of Saint Athanasius the Great by writing this post and assembling a few more quotations and liturgical texts. This is useful for me as a reference point, and — I hope — might prove useful and edifying for others too.

Saint Athanasius of Alexandria is a crucial figure in the early history of the Church for his heroically uncompromising defense of the mystery of the Trinity against Arianism in the fourth century. Today, non-Christians and secular people may wonder why Athanasius was so passionate and so persistent about what might seem to be an abstract theological point. Yet we can appreciate the energy of his zeal if we realize that he perceived the deep connection between the mystery of the Trinity and the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption. 

Athanasius’s conviction about the Trinity is inseparable from his conviction regarding the central Christian event and its significance for the life of humans. Through the incarnation and redemption, God has made it possible for us to share in His very life.  Our union with the Word made flesh gives us “a participation in the Divine nature” (see 2 Peter 1:4). This is the great patristic teaching on deification (“theosis”): God became man so that humans might become “gods”—that is, adopted children of the Father (see 1 John 3:2). Athanasius grasps the radical implications of Arius’s theories: if the one who became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary is not fully Divine, how could he possibly give us a participation in the Divine life? 

In Arias’s reductionist view of the Son of God in the Trinity as merely an exalted creature, the magnificent destiny of the human person in Christ comes crashing to the ground. It means that the one who walked the earth, who became our friend, who gave us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, was merely another creature like us.  God has not shown us His face nor invited us into his friendship.  He remains a stranger to us.  Thus Athanasius declares: “the Son of God became Son of Man, so that the sons of man, that is, of Adam, might become sons of God."

Moreover, if the Holy Spirit is not fully God, how can he possibly transform us into the likeness of God?  “If the Holy Spirit were a creature, there could be no communion of God with us through Him.  On the contrary, we would be joined to a creature, and we would be foreign to the divine nature, as having nothing in common with it…If by participation in the Spirit we are made partakers in the divine nature…it cannot be doubted that His is the nature of God.”  

For Athanasius, the full co-eternal divinity of the Word and the Holy Spirit with the Father is above all the truth about the mystery of the Triune God; at the same time this mystery is revealed as the decisive reality for the human vocation. Only the Divine Word-made-flesh divinizes His brothers and sisters in the flesh. If Christ is anything less than God, then the gates of heaven are closed and man is still in exile from his eternal home. The comfortable rationalism of Arius's theories is no small matter; it deconstructes the mystery of God, reducing the incarnation into a kind of gnostic mythology, and robbing human beings of their true destiny — of the ultimate hope stirred up by Spirit of God in their hearts, that they might be redeemed, raised up, and supernaturally recreated in the likeness of God, to “participate” in the Divine nature by being conformed by grace and glory to the Divine Person of God the Son, the Word made flesh.

————————————————————————————————

******* Quotations from Saint Athanasius *******

"Through this union of the immortal Son of God with our human nature, all humans were clothed with incorruption in the promise of the resurrection. For the solidarity of humankind is such that, by virtue of the Word's indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all" (Saint Athanasius, On The Incarnation 2:9).

"Thus taking from our bodies one of like nature, because all were under penalty of the corruption of death He gave it over to death in the stead of all, and offered it to the Father— doing this, moreover, of His loving-kindness, to the end that, firstly, all being held to have died in Him, the law involving the ruin of men might be undone (inasmuch as its power was fully spent in the Lord's body, and had no longer holding-ground against men, his peers), and that, secondly, whereas men had turned toward corruption, He might turn them again toward incorruption, and quicken them from death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of the Resurrection, banishing death from them like straw from the fire" (On The Incarnation 8:4).

"The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly and eternally, is He that is born in time here below, of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, so that those who are in the first place born here below might have a second birth from on high, that is, of God” (On The Incarnation 8).

"God's love of man is such that to those for whom first He is Creator, He afterwards, according to grace, becomes a Father also. The latter He does when men, who are His creatures, receive into their hearts, as the Apostle says, the Spirit of His Son, crying 'Abba, Father'. It is these who, by their having received the Word, have gained from Him the power to become children of God; for, being creatures by nature, they could not otherwise become sons other than by receiving the Spirit of the natural and true Son. To bring this about, therefore, the Word became flesh - so that He might make man capable of divinity." (Discourses Against the Arians II, ch. 21, para. 59).

————————————————————————————————

******* Liturgical Texts for the Feast of Saint Athanasius *******

“Blaring trumpet of the Lord and flute of the Spirit, O great Athanasius, O fiery mind, it is fitting to sing your praises with hymns; for you taught us to honor the Trinity of one essence” (Kontakion, Byzantine Liturgy for Feast of Saint Athanasius).

“Almighty ever-living God, who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius as an outstanding champion of your Son’s divinity, mercifully grant, that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection, we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever” (Collect, Roman Liturgy for the Feast of Saint Athanasius).

The Virginia Dogwood

In recent weeks, the Virginia Dogwood (the official State tree) has bloomed everywhere.

The unfolding of Spring 2026 continues.

And So, the King and Queen Came to Front Royal

Here are King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the gazebo on Main Street in Front Royal, Virginia, on April 30, 2026.

I didn’t go personally to see the “Royals in Front Royal.” In my condition, I can’t stand in a crowd for five hours. But I had my fair share of these adventures 30-45 years ago when I was young and healthy: Baseball World Series, rock concerts, and then — of course — the Pope (John Paul II), many times, in Denver (World Youth Day 1993), in Rome, in Mexico. Many years ago, I saw Princess Grace of Monaco walk from a building to a waiting car. But the USA is not a place where one generally bumps into royalty, and I never imagined that King Charles III would visit the gazebo on Main Street. But, as I said, my legs (not to mention my back, my neck, etcetera) can no longer handle standing for long hours in huge crowds, so I couldn’t go.

Nevertheless, the Front Royal Janaros were well represented at this remarkable event. Eileen went with our daughter-in-law Emily and two of the grandkids. John Paul was there. Jojo was there. It was a unique day in the history of this little town in the Shenandoah Valley. It sounds like they had a lot of fun, and that things in general went relatively smoothly. 

For “historical purposes,” I want to record on the blog that it did in fact happen. And, even though I couldn’t go to see the king and queen, I didn’t mind too much. After it was over, I got to spend some time with these little princesses, whose visits are always special:

Saint Catherine: “Do Not Judge,” but Offer “Holy Compassion”

For Saint Catherine of Siena’s feast day, I revisited her remarkable text, the Dialogue, a rich and inspiring collection of mystical and theological insights in the form of “conversations” between God the Father and the extraordinarily dynamic 14th century Dominican Tertiary saint and Doctor of the Church.

The powerful exhortation in Chapter 100 of the Dialogue is a radical reminder of the Gospel’s insistence that we must not judge, hate, or desire revenge against anyone, even in our thoughts. Rather, we must trust that God loves us and works His will for our good through our fellow human beings — our brothers and sisters whose actions he guides — or permits — as He leads us on the path to salvation. “Everything is grace,” even the injuries that God permits our neighbors to inflict upon us, which he allows so that we might grow in patience and endurance and conformity to His Son Jesus. Insofar as we do see our neighbor’s faults, we are called to offer “holy compassion” — to be merciful in union with the God who is Mercy.

Too often I forget this basic aspect of my own vocation to be merciful and compassionate to everyone; yet it is necessary for me because I myself am so much in need of mercy and forgiveness. And the love for war that breeds so many conflicts in our time stems from the war that begins in our hearts when we presume to “judge others,” when we forget “holy compassion.” Saint Catherine faced much conflict in her times, but trust in the goodness of God and the practice of compassion and mercy made her an exemplary peacemaker from whom we still have much to learn.

Text from Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, chapter 100.

[God the Father speaks:]

“Unite yourself always to me by the affection of love, for I am the Supreme and Eternal Purity. I am the Fire that purifies the soul…

[God says that if you want to be united to His purity,] “you should never judge the human will in anything that you may see done or said by any creature whatsoever, either to yourself or to others. You should consider my will alone, both in them and in yourself. 

“And if you should see evident sins or defects, draw the rose out of those thorns. That is to say, offer them to me with holy compassion. In the case of injuries done to yourself, judge that my will permits this in order to prove virtue in yourself and in my other servants, figuring that the one who acts thus does so as the instrument of my will. You should also realize that such apparent sinners may frequently have a good intention. 

“No one can judge the secrets of a person's heart. What you do not see you should not judge in your mind, even though it may evidently be open mortal sin. See nothing in others but my will — not in order to judge but, as has been said, with holy compassion.

“In this way you will arrive at perfect purity because when you act this way, your mind will not be scandalized either in me or in your neighbors. Otherwise you fall into contempt of your neighbors if you judge their evil will toward you instead of my will acting in them. Such contempt and scandal separate the soul from me and prevent perfection and, in some cases, deprive her of grace, more or less according to the gravity of her contempt and the hatred her judgment has conceived against her neighbor.

“A different reward is received by the soul who perceives only my will. As has been said, [my will] wishes nothing else but your good so that everything I give or permit to happen to you, I give so that you may arrive at the end for which I created you. And because the soul remains always in the love of her neighbor, she remains always in my love and thus remains united to me.”

King Charles is Coming to Front Royal?

I have fact-checked this. It looked so obviously ridiculous. (I thought, “this has gotta be a joke!”)

But I checked it and checked it and checked it. This is NOT fake news! 

It's... surreal, I mean, the King? The ACTUAL King??? Of England, the U.K., Canada, Australia, and lots of little islands where they play Cricket? The King who is the descendant of the King who used to be the King of… the Colony of Virginia? 

But why here? Front Royal is not exactly a big stopping point for celebrities. Bing Crosby once came here back in the 1950s, and that was a big deal. The town named the baseball park after him. We call it “the Bing.”

Well, move over Bing Crosby.

King Charles wants to visit Shenandoah National Park during his State Visit to the U.S.A. The northern entrance to the Park is here in Front Royal. But Charles and Camilla also want to experience some local life, and we just happened to be having a special 250th anniversary “block party” on Main Street on April 30.

The royals are somehow going to participate in this event, although no one knows exactly how. But the word is that 30,000 people (twice the population of Front Royal) are coming to find out.

Perhaps the King knows that “Front Royal” was on the Western border of the colonies in the days when Great Britain still ruled them. After the Seven Year’s War with the French, the British took the line corresponding to the Appalachian mountains as the border of their sponsorship of and involvement in the Anglo-American colonial project. The remainder of the region was to be preserved for the indigenous tribes who had roots there. Is there something symbolic about going to “the West” as it was 250 years ago, when the British still ruled the Eastern colonies? Or am I just overthinking this whole thing?

Whatever I “think,” they are coming on Thursday.

And the town just announced all this today. It's going to be crazy around here on Thursday.

“No One is Excluded…”

The African Journey of Pope Leo XIV has concluded, and he has returned to Rome full of gratitude. This is taken from the @pontifex Instagram account, April 23.

The Courage, Endurance, and Humility of Pope Francis

One year ago this week, on the morning of Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, our beloved Pope Francis was called home to the God he served so well for 88 years, especially in the final 12 years during which he was called from Argentina to Rome to be the Successor of Saint Peter.

Imagine all this! Here was an Archbishop of the great city of Buenos Ares who had passed the 75-year-retirement-age for bishops, who intended to submit his resignation (again) to the Vatican in 2013. He had a room picked out in a nursing home, where he intended to live out his old age ministering to the elderly who are often forgotten, distressed, physically afflicted, and — especially — lonely. It was not his plan to become Pope at the age of 76, but once he was chosen he embraced the papal ministry vigorously with the mind and heart of a pastor.

I learned so much from his teaching, his preaching, and his witness. I’m sure countless others did too. He preached the mercy of Christ, the ardor of Christ for our salvation, the Lord’s closeness to every human person, and His tenderness with our wounded souls and all our afflictions of mind and body. Francis especially wanted to draw our attention to the poor and to those who were “on the margins” of modern society, as well as those neglected by the ministry of the Church.

He also lived the Gospel of mercy for the poor with countless gestures: embracing the sick, visiting prisons and consoling the prisoners one by one, eating with homeless people … these gestures which came from his own heart and shaped the attention of Catholics and others to focus on recognizing Christ in every person and serving Him through them.

There are many extraordinary gestures of Francis that were unforgettable, that we all witnessed on internet media or television. For the moment, I wish to recall one particular example: Francis’s audience with the leaders of different factions near the end of a brutal civil war in the new African nation of South Sudan. Nearly half a million people died and many others were displaced in the fighting there from 2013-2020. In 2019, these leaders were trying to work out a peace agreement, to find a unified modus vivendi for political stability that could overcome the violent divisions they represented. 

Francis often “threw away the script” for these kind of meetings, but this time it was beyond anyone’s expectations. Already frail with age and struggling with mobility problems, Francis went down on his knees and kissed the shoes of each of the rival leaders. Once his own attendants realized what he was doing, they assisted him: Francis clearly needed help bending down, stretching himself to place his lips on the feet of six people and then getting up again. Then he exhorted, counseled, and begged them to persevere in the peace process. 

It was an astonishing gesture! It may have helped to bring about the “beginning of the end” of the civil war in 2020, though violence continued to flare up. Francis visited South Sudan in 2023 (the long pilgrimages he made to Africa and Asia in the last two years of his pontificate were heroic triumphs of evangelical ardor over the limits of human exhaustion). He said Mass in the capital city of Juba, and — realizing that much of the ongoing violence was fueled by vengeance for atrocities committed by both sides during the civil war — he begged the people to forgive one another: “Even if our hearts bleed for the wrongs we have suffered, let us refuse, once and for all, to repay evil with evil. Let us accept one another and love one another with sincerity and generosity, as God loves us.” 

Sadly, the always-fragile peace agreement and the frequently-violated ceasefire between factions has been threatened by an increase in violence over the past year. But a special bond has been formed between the people of this troubled new nation and a humble, courageous Pope. The fruit of Francis’s extraordinary witness to Christ’s love for these people will grow with time.

Now, as we mark one year since his death, I want to remember this beloved Pope, pray for him to enter into the fullness of eternal joy, and also continue to be grateful for his successor, our current Pope Leo XIV, and to pray for him and his ministry in our current, increasingly chaotic and dangerous times.

The words of Pope Francis in his last two homilies (the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday 2025) continue to be powerful, encouraging, and relevant to the present day. Popes are only the “servant[s] of the servants of God.” They come and go — although the popes of my lifetime have been especially enlightened and strengthened by the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us through the strange darkness of our times — still, popes are only servants. Jesus Christ is the only Lord, who is always the same. Jesus the unfathomable gift of inexhaustible Love for each of us and all of us, for our salvation, for our total fulfillment as human persons, for our eternal destiny to share in the companionship and love of the Triune God — the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — forever. The night of this life is long, but the Risen Jesus is here. We must stay with Him and follow Him, for He is our hope.

Quotations from Pope Francis, Easter 2025:

“The light of the Resurrection illumines our path one step at a time; quietly, it breaks through the darkness of history and shines in our hearts, calling for the response of a humble faith, devoid of all triumphalism. The Lord’s passage from death to life is not a spectacular event by which God shows his power and compels us to believe in him… On the contrary, the Resurrection is like little seeds of light that slowly and silently come to take root in our hearts, at times still prey to darkness and unbelief… We cannot celebrate Easter without continuing to deal with the nights that dwell in our hearts and the shadows of death that so often loom over our world. Christ indeed conquered sin and destroyed death, yet in our earthly history the power of his Resurrection is still being brought to fulfillment. And that fulfillment, like a small seed of light, has been entrusted to us, to protect it and to make it grow.

“When the thought of death lies heavy on our hearts, when we see the dark shadows of evil advancing in our world, when we feel the wounds of selfishness or violence festering in our flesh and in our society, let us not lose heart, but return to the message of this night. The light quietly shines forth, even though we are in darkness; the promise of new life and a world finally set free awaits us; and a new beginning, however impossible it might seem, can take us by surprise, for Christ has triumphed over death.”

“This message fills our hearts with renewed hope. For in the risen Jesus we have the certainty that our personal history and that of our human family, albeit still immersed in a dark night where lights seem distant and dim, are nonetheless in God’s hands. In his great love, he will not let us falter, or allow evil to have the last word. At the same time, this hope, already fulfilled in Christ, remains for us a goal to be attained. Yet it has been entrusted to us so that we can bear credible witness to it, so that the Kingdom of God may find its way into the hearts of the women and men of our time.”

~Easter Vigil, April 19, 2025

“Brothers and sisters, this is the greatest hope of our life: we can live this poor, fragile and wounded existence clinging to Christ, because he has conquered death, he conquers our darkness and he will conquer the shadows of the world, to make us live with him in joy, forever. This is the goal towards which we press on, as the Apostle Paul says, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead (cf. Philippians 3:12-14).”

~Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025

Rhododendron 2026 Survives and Thrives!

It was a rough winter for the Rhododendron in Virginia, with their year-round green leaves taking a beating from all the frost, cold, and wind. But spring is here, and these tough little trees are blooming beautifully. I’m especially glad to see them this year!

Paul VI: Peace Requires "A New Way of Thinking About Man"

When Pope Paul VI addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on October 4, 1965, the memory of the cataclysm of World War II was still fresh in everyone's mind. The unprecedented perils born in the aftermath of that war continued to afflict millions of people whose lives were subjected to the resulting expansion of totalitarian Communist regimes. Other countries (especially new nations emerging from colonialism) were often subjected to dictatorships, corruption, and regional warfare. But an unprecedented number of nations (not only the USA and Western Europe, but around the world) struggled to establish or improve the ideals of democracy in ways that sought to respect the dignity of every human person. It was a struggle that inevitably involved failures (great and small), misunderstandings, the manipulative dynamics of power-politics, and many other problems. But there were also positive achievements: such as improvements in general social mobility and the recognition of the rights of minority groups within these nations, as well as unprecedented international collaboration in an increasingly globally interconnected world. 

Paul VI's trip to United Nations headquarters in New York was his third major trip by air, making him at the time the most-travelled Pope in history. Like subsequent Popes who would surpass him, however, he traveled in the service of his unique pastoral ministry. The world, created and loved by God and redeemed by Christ, had many troubles. Human beings — called to live as brothers and sisters — remained deeply and dangerously divided.

"Peace" was more and more recognized as a necessary ideal, yet it remained very far from any kind of adequate realization. The proliferation of potentially world-destroying nuclear weapons cast a huge shadow over the earth. Ironically, the gigantic nuclear arsenals of the two "Great Powers" during the Cold War era engendered a kind of "military equilibrium," but it remained extremely fragile (coming very near to breaking in October 1962), not to mention morally "problematic" to say the least.  It was based on a System-Of-Terror that essentially "held innocent civilians hostage" as the primary targets of nuclear warheads capable of traveling great distances via intercontinental ballistic missiles. The missiles were locked onto opponent's civilian targets, establishing a correlation of threats to respond to any "first use" of these horrible weapons with a "retaliatory strike" that would destroy a substantial portion of the first-user's civilian population centers and all their inhabitants. This bizarre strategic edifice was called "Mutually Assured Destruction" (M.A.D., an apt anagram).

By 1965, however, everyone felt uneasy about this set-up. It seemed in some ways that Communism (other than in Mao Zedong's Chinese Dystopia) was beginning to "wear thin" not only in reality — where it never worked — but even in the imaginations of its ideological elites. Nevertheless, Marxist-Leninist socialism was still embedded within the oppressive power-structures that controlled half of the world, and its revolutionary theories still strongly attracted radicals in poor and/or post-colonial newly independent countries. Meanwhile, the "Free World" was on the threshold of its own very-big-blunders (a topic for another post). But in 1965, there seemed to be some hope of movement toward peace. The shock of the Cuban Missile Crisis had led to the signing of the first Nuclear Test Ban treaty by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union.

Thus, there appeared a “small opening” (a proverbial window of opportunity) for a Pope to address fundamental issues regarding the dignity of the human person and the unity of the human family in an exciting, complex, and bewildering historical moment. The Pope emphasized the need for a more profound wisdom to correspond to the progress of unprecedented technological power, the need to renounce the waging of offensive war with its ruthless weapons and their tendency toward uncontrollable and incalculable escalation and chaos (while still recognizing the need for self-defense), and the need to search for a better kind of peace — a search that still motivates people of good will. 

And Pope Paul VI especially wanted to witness to this new "Global Areopagus" the unbreakable bond by which every authentic human need draws us toward the God who took our humanity to Himself and redeemed us: Jesus Christ, who makes us children of God our Father in a new way, and brothers and sisters of one another. Pope Paul and his successors are not naive about the weakness of humanity; rather they proclaim this bond of our redeemed humanity in Christ, that calls us to and makes possible a "higher wisdom" and a greater love, a depth of fraternity that is destined to be fulfilled in God's Kingdom, and that can also shed new light and awaken new possibilities for mutual love, for peace, among peoples and nations on our pilgrimage through life in this world.

Here is a selection from Pope Paul VI's speech to the United Nations on October 4, 1965 (with emphasis added):

"There is no need for a long talk to proclaim the main purpose of your Institution. It is enough to recall that the blood of millions, countless unheard-of sufferings, useless massacres and frightening ruins have sanctioned the agreement that unites you with an oath that ought to change the future history of the world: never again war, never again war! It is peace, peace, that has to guide the destiny of the nations of all mankind!... The pathways [to peace] are marked out before you and the first one is disarmament.

"If you want to be brothers, let the arms fall from your hands. A person cannot love with offensive weapons in his hands. Arms, and especially the terrible arms that modern science has provided you, engender bad dreams, feed evil sentiments, create nightmares, hostilities, and dark resolutions even before they cause any victims and ruins. They call for enormous expenses. They interrupt projects of solidarity and of useful labor. They warp the outlook of nations. So long as man remains the weak, changeable, and even wicked being that he so often shows himself to be, defensive arms will, alas, be necessary. But your courage and good qualities urge you on to a study of means that can guarantee the security of international life without any recourse to arms...

"The edifice [i.e. the United Nations] you are building does not rest on purely material and terrestrial foundations, for in that case it would be a house built on sand. It rests most of all upon consciences. Yes, the time has come for "conversion," for personal transformation, for interior renewal. We have to get used to a new way of thinking about man, a new way of thinking about man's community life, and, last of all, a new way of thinking about the pathways of history and the destinies of the world. As St. Paul says, we must "put on the new man, which has been created according to God in justice and holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4:23).

"The hour has come when a pause, a moment of recollection, reflection, you might say of prayer, is absolutely needed so that we may think back over our common origin, our history, our common destiny. The appeal to the moral conscience of man has never before been as necessary as it is today, in an age marked by such great human progress. For the danger comes neither from progress nor from science; if these are used well they can, on the contrary, help to solve a great number of the serious problems besetting mankind. The real danger comes from man, who has at his disposal ever more powerful instruments that are as well fitted to bring about ruin as they are to achieve lofty conquests.

"To put it in a word, the edifice of modern civilization has to be built on spiritual principles, for they are the only ones capable not only of supporting it, but of shedding light on it and inspiring it. And we are convinced, as you know, that these indispensable principles of higher wisdom cannot rest on anything but faith in God. Is He the unknown God of whom St. Paul spoke to the Athenians on the Areopagus — unknown to those who, without suspecting it, were nevertheless looking for Him and had Him close beside them, as is the case with so many men of our times? For us, in any case, and for all those who accept the ineffable revelation that Christ has made to us of Him, He is the living God, the Father of all men."

"Jesus is Always With Us"

Posted on @pontifex Instagram yesterday, from Cameroon. Jesus is our only hope.

“A Sustainable Path Rich in Human Fraternity”

The African nation of Cameroon has endured civil war in its westernmost regions since 2017. Pope Leo visited the area as part of his pastoral journey to four African countries that began in Algeria on Monday, and he probably had in mind for some time what he wished to say at the ecumenical gathering for peace he attended in Cameroon on Thursday. The civil strife, separatist war, and humanitarian crisis there has much in common with other ongoing conflicts in various African countries, and Leo’s speech addressed the problems of war and opportunities for peace in these afflicted regions. Even if the United States of America had not been involved in a globally dangerous war in the Middle East, the Pope probably would have said the same words and expressed the same solidarity with these participants in Cameroon’s “Movement for Peace.” 

Nevertheless, some reports in the U.S. assumed that his references to “masters of war” and “tyrants” were directed specifically (or even exclusively) against Donald Trump; the assumption was part of the effort to create and sustain a narrative of political struggle between the two (Anglo-) American “leaders.” A “Leo-versus-Trump” verbal wrestling match makes for better clickbait, which for many digital journalists is the bottom line. Others are trying to “enlist” Leo as a representative of the opposition party (conveniently ignoring — for the moment — that Pope Leo does not support abortion, among other things). It doesn’t help that Trump and his supporters continue to try to stir up a political fight with the Pope. All of this activity reflects the ongoing collapse of news reporting in U.S. society — which has been facilitated by the growth of the power of (Dis)Information Technology. Nevertheless, real news sources are not entirely defeated. Pope Leo explained to reporters on Friday’s flight to Angola that this narrative was fictional. 

Leo had already stated that he did not wish to engage in a foreign policy debate with U.S. politicians. Rather, he was preaching the Gospel of peace and calling for conversion from the sinful destructiveness of waging war for the purposes of increasing the presumption of power, plundering the natural world, and irresponsibly amassing material wealth through control of valuable natural resources. In Africa, local conflicts are often stirred up (and armed) in order to serve the avarice of rich and powerful political and economic interests. Pope Leo spoke to encourage the people who live and suffer in the midst of these wars to begin to build peace through their own mutual understanding and love for one another. War is a long-standing and distinctive problem in Africa that needs to be addressed for its own sake. In spite of the fact that Donald Trump often talks and behaves as if everything in the world revolves around his ego, Pope Leo is on an Apostolic visit to Africa and right now his concerns are focused on the people he is visiting, encouraging them to grow in God’s love.

Of course, Leo’s overall insistence on peacemaking and his vigorous condemnation of using violence as a means to solve problems applies to all those who fight such wars, which means that the Pope’s admonition naturally extends to the U.S. regime’s and Israel’s reckless and dangerous offensive war waged against Iran. He is not interfering in politics when he opposes sinful and dehumanizing actions that are being perpetrated by individuals, groups, or governments. He is being a bishop, serving and defending the integral dignity and ultimate destiny of the human persons entrusted to him. As Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, Servant of the Servants of God, his pastoral responsibility extents to… everyone.

The causes, motives, and results of indulging the “love of war” are fundamentally the same all over the world. What Pope Leo stressed in a particular way in Cameroon, however, was the exemplary witness and work for peace that people there are taking up. It represents a movement of genuine “conversion” to the fraternal love that the Lord wants for all of humanity, and which He makes possible in the heart of Christ.

"The crisis impacting these regions of Cameroon has brought Christian and Muslim communities closer than ever before. Indeed, your religious leaders have come together to establish a Movement for Peace, through which they seek to mediate between the opposing sides.

"I wish this would happen in so many other places of the world. Your witness, your work for peace can be a model for the whole world! Jesus told us: Blessed are the peacemakers! But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. Yes, my dear sisters and brothers, you who hunger and thirst for justice, who are poor, merciful, meek, and pure of heart, you who have wept — you are the light of the world! (cf. Matthew 5:3-14)...

"The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild. They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found. Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death. It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience. 

“We must make a decisive change of course — a true conversion — that will lead us in the opposite direction, onto a sustainable path rich in human fraternity. The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters! They are the descendants of Abraham, as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Let us look into each other’s eyes: we are this immense people! Peace is not something we must invent: it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbor as our brother and as our sister. We do not choose our brothers and sisters: we simply must accept one another! We are one family, inhabiting the same home: this wonderful planet that ancient cultures have cared for across millennia."

~Leo XIV (Bamenda, Cameroon, April 16, 2026)

More Colors of Spring

Here are some more "colors of spring."