Two Pages from the 1940 U.S. Census
My niece sent me a copy of two pages from the 1940 U.S. Census. On one page is the report on my father’s family. His family all lived in my grandparents’ home on Beckman Avenue in Cleveland. My father, who was 25 at the time, answered the census taker’s questions. He and my mother (married in 1937) were living on the second floor of the home. They had an eight-month-old little girl, Mary Ann, my sister. My grandparents lived downstairs with their remaining five children, ranging in age from 24 to 15. (more…)
Jesus Had Bad Days Too
The other day I had a bad day. I woke up to pouring rain that never quit. I was stiff and achy the entire day. Then my printer wouldn’t print right. Then I got a sudden case of writer’s block. The article I was working on just wouldn’t come. Later in the day I received some bad news about a friend’s deteriorating health. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very good day. (more…)
Holy Humor Week
There’s a tradition in the church that goes back hundreds of years. On Easter Monday people used to gather together and tell jokes. That’s right, tell jokes. It all stemmed from their realization that when God raised Jesus from the dead, God had the last laugh!
The Week We Call Holy
This week is Holy Week. We call it “Holy” because this is the week we commemorate the essence of the Paschal Mystery, that is, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. On Thursday we commemorate the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist as a way of staying with us in time forever. That day we also reenact Jesus’ loving action: the washing of the feet of his disciples. This ritual reminds us that following Jesus essentially means this: to serve others. (more…)
The 32,000 Year-Old Seeds
Did you read the story about the 32,000 year-old seeds that germinated recently? It seems researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow found some ancient plants (silene stenophylla) in a fossilized squirrel burrow in Siberia. (more…)
