If You're Struggling With Dark Times Then Cheer Up

I was watching Dale Ahlquist, President of The American Chesterton Society, last night when something occurred to me.  He was talking about the fact that preumption, not despair, is the opposite of hope.  The idea is that we can only have hope when things seem bleak.  And if we're not worried about something, we're living in bliss, not hopefulness.

This bliss is something that dominates most of our society today.  Americans have made it their business to make everything as safe as possible.  We've also invented backup plans for when something does go wrong (insurance).  We shell out billions of dollars to create a society protected against crime and terrorism.  We make health more important than healing.  And all of this has created a society without hope.

The Side of Saint Francis You’ve Never Seen Before

The Soldier – The Prisoner – The Beggar – The Saint

Saint Francis of Assisi led one of the most interesting lives of all the saints throughout Catholic history.  In our recent poll, Catholics chose him as their favorite saint.  And yet, his life is as much a mystery to us today as it was hundreds of years ago.

Not any more!