Abraham's Journey
By Charlie Johnston It was a banner July for our little community here at A Sign of Hope. We were right about every aspect of Covid – and were one of the earliest to get it right. We didn’t use weasel words; we were full-throated about it. It absolutely gobsmacked me that, during the depraved […]
Read More Chickens Coming HomeBy Charlie Johnston I have been working deeply on what I think is a key project. We are in perilous times, but like Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” it is very much both the best of times and the worst of times. I think we are on the verge of having the fulness […]
Read More The Pursuit of TruthBy Charlie Johnston Well, for the last couple of weeks I have had sporadic bouts with that cyclospora outbreak around the country. I haven’t been eating lettuce, but I do eat a lot of fresh fruit. I think maybe God has been jesting with me a bit, saying, “Hey Charlie, when did I ever tell […]
Read More The Curtain RisesBy Charlie Johnston One of the devil’s most brilliant successes has been to embed the pharisaical instinct deeply into the human psyche. Few want the mundane honor of being God’s good servant, preferring the romantic drama of being God’s enforcer. The latter is the wide gate that leads to destruction while, as Christ said, the […]
Read More One Bread, One BodyBy Charlie Johnston When St. John Paul II died my father, then a Protestant Pentecostal Pastor, cried. When I asked him why it affected him so deeply, he told me that, from his perspective, John Paul had climbed up onto the cross with Jesus and stayed there with Him until Jesus called him home…that it […]
Read More Signs of Hope, Signs of ContradictionIn the brief run-up to the American Civil war between Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration and the start of hostilities, the new president was visited by a host of “peace committees,” urging him to let the rebellious states go in peace, forming two countries from one. Lincoln believed such a peace would only be illusory, setting off […]
Read More Birthing PainsBy Charlie Johnston In the early morning hours of Friday, May 1, 2026, Bishop Rene Henry Gracida entered eternity a little more than a month before what would have been his 103rd birthday. Bishop Gracida was the author of the Blog, Abyssus Abyssum Invocat (Deep Calls to Deep) – which was also his episcopal motto. […]
Read More Bishop Rene Gracida Passes Into EternityBy Charlie Johnston The feud between Pope Leo and President Trump is dominating a lot of Catholic headlines these days. Many are saying that the Pope has gone completely political and is outside of any legitimate authority he has. Others argue that faithful Catholics must do whatever the Pope says (God forbid he ever starts […]
Read More Appearance and Reality: The Triumph is on the HorizonBy Charlie Johnston I am repeating my traditional story of Good Friday today, “Epitaph.” But first I want to recall one of the two most odd Easter Masses I have ever participated in. It was 20 years ago at a parish in the far north suburbs of Chicago, a different one than I would usually […]
Read More Imitate HimBy Charlie Johnston I think I gave the wrong impression when I wrote passionately about Pope Leo’s formulaic statement opposing American action on Iran, where he said that negotiation is the only answer and that violence never solved anything. Both were trite, nice-sounding platitudes that are easily and quickly disproven. But it did not signal […]
Read More Do Whatever He Tells You
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