Third Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B All the readings show pairs of galvanizing moments Jonah s choice to preach preceded by a refusal the Ninevites decision to turn to God and amend their evil ways Paul s reversal to preach instead of persecute Jesus the Corinthians challenge to

Yesterday watching the Inauguration I was surprised by patriotic joy This intense response confirmed a recent psychological report I had been reading demonstrating how poorly people predict their own future emotions Science 9 January 2009 In experiments showing once again that humans are poo

Ingmar Bergman s brooding film Winter Light may have given winter a bad name Certainly the long darkness of the arctic north can weigh on the soul and even residents of temperate climes can suffer from cabin fever when winter passes through the tunnel months of February and March when the sea

As soon as Obama finishes speaking people begin leaving Seriously it looks like the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium I can t even see or hear poet Elizabeth Alexander at times through the dispersing crowds But the text is a gem A last prayer from the Rev Dr Joseph E Lowery He looks

Obama speaks It begins far lighter on rhetoric than I expected Starts with the now common refrain things are going to be tough Ugh I know but I could recite the section in my sleep I wonder early on if this is going to sound more like a State of the Union or something Clintonian I hope not

Various luminaries appear on the jumbotron Colin Powell gets cheers George H W Bush looks old John McCain talks to a very tall man Joe Lieberman is heartily jeered and at some length There is clearly no love lost for Joe Michelle Obama looks amazing The girls are beautiful Dick Cheney is

6am I m late getting started as usual I don the tight lycra heat-holding undergarments my aunt bought me Looking in the mirror I see an obese Sandy Duncan It s not a good moment On the red line from Dupont Circle to Union Station Our third stop Metro Center looks like a sc

President Barack Obama rsquo s inaugural address was surprisingly leaden It did not soar like his Yes We Can speech after losing the New Hampshire primary nor did it chart his plans for governance as did his convention speech in Denver Most strangely it did not seem to capture the history of

This morning the Holy Father sent a telegram congratulating Barack Obama as he assumes the presidency The text was warm and encouraging and can be read here Let s hope the bishops on this side of the pond follow the lead of the Bishop of Rome and recognize the historic moment in which we are li

There may have been a miracle on the Hudson River last week but what is transpiring on the banks of the Potomac River is not a miracle In its way it is better than a miracle Miracles involve divine intervention that overturns the natural order of Creation The inauguration of Barack Obama is a h

What the online press is offering this morning nbsp Slate has the president s speech as written by various readers nbsp The New York Times online nbsp has a similar feature offering readers hope for the Obama administration as well as readers photos of the events nbsp The New Republ

A 30-something African-American man standing outside the U S Capitol talking to his wife From slavery to this Guard I m sorry you can t check books out of the Library of Congress nbsp nbsp nbsp Visitor But I brought my library card nbsp Guard It s not that kind of library

Barack Obama and many Americans spent today trying to follow the example of Dr Martin Luther King Jr by doing some kind of service work for our fellow human beings nbsp Many in Washington D C including this correspondent spent the day in lines and receptions Everywhere you went today the

Friends lost, now alive with God

The flaws of U.S. agricultural policy

A bishop from the U.S. military vicariate on a chaplain's duty

John Patrick Shanley's 'Doubt' looks at the darkness to be encountered even within the most sacred locales

What should Barack Obama do upon first taking office? A few New Yorkers--and some of the president elects youngest supporters--weigh in. For more advice for Obama, read Americas recent letters to the president-elect.

Why was Giordano Bruno burned at the stake?