The Meddlesome Priest :

--- Dachau Memorial Sculpture 1968 It starts in the family and spreads to all humanity. After Mercy and Forgiveness , Reconciliation is the next necessary step to 2020 A Year Without War . Part religious sacrament, part family legacy, part civic virtue, reconciliation is our conscious choice to actively  “…forgive those who trespass against us” . But it can’t merely be a mental attitude. Actions are required to restore peace and harmony between divided peoples. The ‘Prodigal Son’ parable is the most famous religious context where father and son are reconciled over the objection of other relatives. Famously depicted in art, sculpture even parks, numerous acts of reconciliation have guided human history away from feuding families to warring nations. Here are just a few over the centuries c.1510   -   Il Figlio Prodigo   / The Prodigal Son , Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (Netherlands). By Hieronymus Bosch [c1450-1516].   ...

"An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind." --- Mahatma Gandhi Part II of the V Part Series: Mercy, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Acceptance and Peace in 2020 There's the forgiveness that never forgets. There’s the forgiveness that never remembers. And then, there’s the forgiveness practiced for its own sake.  Unless we daily and individually practice this forgiveness for itself alone, all that will remain are the ashes of a world in flames and the blood of innocents. When you arrive at the ripe age of 71.9 years (I count womb time), as will happen to me this Friday, you think a lot about forgiveness. My mother had three children each by a different sire. She never forgave my older brother’s father for abandoning her literally pregnant on the church steps. She kept this hidden ‘unforgivable’ from my brother and me until her death gave us access to her letters and papers. This unforgiving dominated her character and our colored our chil...

A New Novel by Fraser C. Heston and Heather J. McAdams Filmmakers Make a Great Novel A Review By Mark McIntire July 31, 2015 Santa Barbara, California Duh! You’d think that someone, somewhere in the Canadian constabulary would investigate 15 detached human feet (in running shoes no less) washing up around Vancouver BC over the last 8 years. Well, you’d be wrong. Oh, the Mounties have admitted it could be a serial criminal, but they prefer the ‘forensic products of suicide’ theory. Right! Surely this comes as some consolation both to those whose feet have gone missing as well as to their family and friends. Well, that’s just not good enough for veteran filmmakers Fraser C. Heston and Heather J. McAdams. Seeing the perfect predicate for a knurly, snarly, kinky who-dun-it, thriller they just released their novel DESOLATION SOUND in pre-order on Amazon.com . Heston and McAdams run the boutique film studio, AGAMEMNON FILMS pumping out a number of successful indepen...

“The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: ‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.” --- Portia's Speech from  The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I, William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616 Suppose you wanted to stop war for just one year, say in the year 2020. You figure people might like peace for a  year so much they’ll want to make it permanent.  You figure, ‘what the hell…it’s worth a shot right? What do you think it would take to ...

Integrity: the center of personal character, doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons Integrity is our only real possession. Only we know, for sure, if we really possess it. It costs nothing save the constant effort to secure it. It is little noticed except by the scorn of skeptics. Not made of atoms or molecules it defies science yet it is our eternal legacy. Sought by paupers and kings it tarnishes easily and can be easily lost forever. Whereas it fits every soul that tries it on, its conditions are specific and absolute. Neither learned nor taught, integrity defines the center of our being as either fact or a vacancy. While wisdom entails knowing the right thing to do, integrity is doing it at the right time and for the right reasons.  Since it can neither be copied nor commanded it eludes thieves and tyrants. It’s most remarkable aspect is its legacy to give a life meaning for successive generations. A conversation with a former student ...