Ellicott City - Towson - Point Pleasant - Ellicott City

October 31, 2026 Happy Halloween. These past couple of weeks have been busier than normal. A couple of week ago, I served as spiritual director for an assembly of priests from the diocese of Harrisburg, PA. They met in Towson, just north of Baltimore. I preached and was available for spiritual direction and confessions. I really enjoyed my time with them. It is interesting, though, to preach in front of 75 fellow priests. They were very kind and affirming. This past weekend I ran up to one of our parishes on the shore of New Jersey, Point Pleasant, to preach at all the Masses. I did this because we are having a zoom course on the Gospel of Mark, and fr. Robert, their pastor, wanted them to meet me before the presentation as a type of teaser. It worked out very well, and there was a very good turnout for the first zoom session. Being away for these things meant that I had to fit my usual spiritual directees into the available time, but it has all worked out. What is really helping is that I was supposed to be on a weekend gathering this weekend, but it got cancelled out because the retreat house had difficulties with their HVAC system. I had a class here at the shrine on Genesis a week ago today. I was pleased with how it turned out. I have a few more classes in these months, and have recently finalyzed my schedule for the Spring semester. We have to think way ahead because there are more and more groups that would like to use our facilities for their days of recollection. I would ask your prayers for a friend who passed away this week, fr. Tom Bahn, a Korean friar. I finished some reading and listening: A Theology of Desire: Meditations on Intimacy, Consummation and the longing of God by Suzanne DeWitt Hall This is a rather short presentation on the idea of our faith is one of desire, both our desire for God and God’s desire for us. It draws upon scripture and mystical images to reflect upon these ideas. I do not know about the other courses of this author, but this one was quite good. Ignatian Discernment in Everyday Life: Finding God in All Things by Timothy Gallagher This is a course from Learn25 about how to follow the discernment process of St. Ignatius Loyola. There are 14 steps in this, and Gallagher does a good job of explaining what they mean and giving examples of what they mean. The Spartans by Andrew Bayliss This is a short book on the history and culture of the Spartans, the city state in the Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece. They were the great foes and Athens, and were unlike that city in that they dedicated themselves to war and not to art and literature. Bayliss cites many sources to show what they were, and how some of the information about them that has been passed down through the ages was more anti-Spartan propaganda than true facts. Bernini by Franco Morando This is a rather long biography of one of the most important artists and architects in Rome during the Baroque period. He was the designer of the colonnades at the Vatican, the Baldacchino in the Basilica, the statue of St. Peter, etc. It was said that if he had not existed, St. Peter’s would be an empty shell. He also worked on innumerable other projects sin Rome, e.g. the fountain of the four rivers in Piazza Navona. Yet, he was also all too human. He was vain and very touchy concerning his reputation. He was probably overly political. He was ruthless with some of his fellow artists or architects. The Middle Ages by Ahoy Publications This is a series of 1,000 factoids on the Middle Ages. I like these books because they are almost like an extended version of the TV show Jeopardy. The facts are mostly well researched, although I found a few that are very questionable in this volume. The Nag Hammadi Library by Trevor Pennington This is a short book with a series of very short articles dealing with the documents found in the 20th century in Nag Hamadi, Egypt. They are Gnostic texts. Gnosticism rejects much of the material nature and life of Jesus and has him as an esoteric guru mouthing great platitudes. It is obvious that Pennington is a fan of these teachings, and he continuously speaks of their superiority to the teachings of the mainline Church. I find much of what he wrote intellectually dishonest. Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women by Leah Redmond Chang This is the story of a series of three queens in the 16th century: Catherine Medici, queen of France, Mary, Queen of the Scots, and Elizabeth, queen of Spain. The author is very good at showing both the larger historic and political landscape, and their individual personalities and trials. She draws much of her material from research on diaries and letters of the people involved. Her style reminds me of Allison Weir. Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction by T.S. Kemp The series of “a very short introduction” deals with many, many different topics. This one speaks of reptiles from a point of view of their origin, their life cycles, the different forms of reptiles, and their practices (both as a larger group and as individual species). Delphi Collected Works of John Constable by Delphi Masters of Art This is part of a large series of books on the arts of great artists. In this one, the author deals with the life and career of John Constable whose landscape art influenced art at the beginning of the Romantic age. 1215 and All That by Ed West West has written a series of books on the history of Great Britain. He gives a series of short essays on various topics, usually following in chronographic order. His style is very informative but also very funny. He has a dry sense of humor that makes listening to his material a joy. Apollo by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox This is a history of the Apollo space program. Murray starts off with the development of a space program (from a political, scientific and even financial point of view). He explains that Kennedy spoke of the goal to land astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade had much to do with competition against the Soviets who had recently launched a series of space shots. He speaks extensively of the tragedy of the death of three astronauts during a practice session. He also speaks quite a bit about the actual landing of astronauts on the moom. The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer This is an ample study of over 100 short essays on topics of ancient history from all over the world. Wise Bauer provides good and well documented information, but in a way which is quite entertaining. This is the third similar book from her that I have read, and I would read even more if I were to find them. The only warning is that this book is quite long. Have a Good Week. Shalom fr. Jude

Ellicott City - Santa Barbara - Ellicott City

October 12, 2026 Peace and Good, The biggest things that has happened in these weeks is the week I spent out at our novitiate in California to present a workshop on the Gospels and the Psalms. I spoke of the Gospels in terms of the Franciscan values that we derive from those works. I spoke of the Psalms to explain what they are all about and how we can pray them, especially since we pray the Divine Office every day. The workshop actually took place in Santa Barbara, for our friars gathered together with the novices of the OFM friars for the week. It was very hot there, which is most unusual. I really enjoyed out time together. We had about 18 hours of classes over five days. I am back at Ellicott City for the week. Then, on Sunday, I head out to north Baltimore, to a hotel, where I will be the spiritual director at an assembly of priests from the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania diocese. That means that I will preach at Mass and be available for confessions. I have also been busy with the usual things, writing, taping the daily reflections, holding classes (I finished a four week series on the Psalms), and confessions and Mass here at the Shrine and at the Nursing Home. I finished some reading and listening: Assyrian History by Enthralling History This is a short outline of the history of the Assyrian empire which ruled much of the Mideast during the beginning of the 1st millennium before Christ. The book speaks of the culture, language, politics, etc. of this empire (which is so famous for their cruel and aggressive way of conducting wars). The Dead Sea Scrolls by James VanderKam This is a very good, short course (from Learn25) on the finding, meaning and content of the Dead Sea Scrolls. VanderKam is good at explaining the various theories and information without having to push his own agenda. I found this course both informative and helpful. Amerigo: The Man who Gave his Name to America by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto This is a biography of the man after whom the Americas are named. He received this name because a cartographer had read his book on his explorations, but as this author notes, much of that information was exaggerated or stolen from the memoirs of Columbus. Amerigo was actually a vittler, a person who supplied ships with food and water for their journeys. He did participate in some voyages, but he was certainly not the leader of any expedition. The Marylebone Drop by Mick Herron This is a short novel based on the idea of an elderly semi-retired spy notices what appears to be a hand off of secret information in a public space. He investigates it a bit with some surprising results which, in a way, all works out for him for he had been down on his luck. Ingres by Delphi Masters of Art This is part of the Masters of Art series by Delphi Publications. They all have a 50 page or so introduction to the life and career of the artists, and then another 80 pages or so of photographs of the art of the artist. Ingres was a 19th century French artist. I can’t saw I like his work all that much, but sometimes I read these books not only to see what I like but also what I don’t like. He wanted to paint large historic and mythic topics in a Neo-Classical style, but he is most famous for his portraits. The Napoleonic Wars by Enthralling History This is a good short book on the rise, career and fall of Napoleon. He speaks of his strength as a military genius, but also of his weaknesses as an administrator of the government of France (and its conquered empire) and of his hubris at attacking lands which could not be conquered (Spain, Russia). Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie This is a rather long account of the investigation of Hercule Poirot, this one dealing with a double murder in France and Poirot’s attempts to outshine two other investigators on the case. There are way too many twists and turns and hidden details for my taste. Invasion! Rome against the Cimbri, 113-101 B.C. by Philip Matyszak I have really taken a liking to the books of Matyszak. He gives a tremendous amount of information without making it repetitive or boring. This particular book deals with a barbarian invasion of a large tribe originally from Denmark which was seeking a permanent abode in northern Italy. Rome was deathly afraid of invasions from the north, so it all didn’t end well. Biblical Wisdom Literature by Joseph Koterski This is a 36 lecture series from the Great Courses on the books of wisdom of the Old Testament (with a little bit of material about Jesus as a Wisdom teacher). Koterski is very balanced and pastoral in his approach. I found that I learned a lot about the topic. It was especially useful to me for its four lectures on the Book of Wisdom for I will be giving a retreat on that book later in the year. Van Gogh: Troubled Soul and Visionary Artist by Leo Lexicon This is a short but very well written intro to Van Gogh. It is part of the series of short intro’s to major characters, such as artists and the fathers of the Church. I have started a much longer book on Van Gogh which is trying to treat him as a talented artist and not a demented religious fanatic. This short book served as a good intro for that larger work. The Terrible Speed of Mercy by Jonathan Rogers This is a spiritual biography of the great southern Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor. I find her writings a bit strange, which is why I wanted to know more about her. I am reading one of her novels right now. I also plan to view the recent film about her. God’s Shadow by Alan Mikhail This is the account of how Sultan Selim (the father of Suleiman the Magnificent) ruled the Ottoman empire and extended its borders to Africa and deep into Iran. While the material on Selim was very interesting, I did not like that the author had a deep anti-Catholic and anti-Shiite prejudice. For example, he spoke of the persecution of Muslims by the Spanish monarchy, while he happens to mention in passing the murder of tens of thousands of Shiites by the Sunni Selim. He also has some strange theories about the discovery of America being intimately tied to the Catholic/Muslim warfare, and of how Martin Luther depended deeply upon Islam to get his start. Those two theories might have a kernel of truth, but Mikhail takes the material well past what can be proven. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude