Free Republic

Three times the Evangelists preserved our Lord’s words in the original Aramaic: When He cried out from the Cross, “My God, My God" When He raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus When He healed the man who had been deaf from birth That “Ephphatha”—“Be opened”—in the last instance, was a sign that our Lord opens human consciousness to a full awareness of God. The Latin word for deaf—surdus—gives us “absurd,” and the ultimate absurdity is to deny the existence of God and His appeal to the human soul. I recently had the privilege of preaching at the funeral...

Although this column will not appear again for the remainder of the summer, this weekend, in honor of Independence Day, we are running Father Rutler’s column from this time last year. Stephen Decatur's toast, “Right or wrong, our country!” was qualified by the German Catholic immigrant Carl Schurz: “Our country, right or wrong – when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.” In this month of patriotic celebrations, we give thanks for the great blessings enjoyed by our nation at the cost of much sacrifice. “The love and service of one's country follow from the duty...