Freundian Clips
John Freund, Just because...Freundian Clips
Recent Posts
- Easter People in a Good Friday/Holy Saturday World?
- Holy Week: What Would You Do?
- Transfigured
- Lent: a Campaign of Christian Service?
- He Gets Us
- Connecting Dots: Lent, Valentine’s Day, and Systemic Change
- Why Am I a Vincentian Priest?
- Did Jesus Contradict Himself?
- Why Did I Create Mindwalk?
- How What I Dreaded Became a Source of Life
- Lessons Learned From a “Street Priest!”
- Is Advent “Missing In Action?”
- Christ the King and the “Duck Test”
- Thanksgiving
- Will You Be Traveling For the Holidays?
- Are You “Woke?” – Should You Be?
- The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
- Raised in the world of “Pay-Pray-Obey”
- The Early Church Had No “Office of Evangelization”
- Street-level Encounters – a Parable
- Have Catholics Seen Such Polarization Before?
- Changing Our Clocks, Fast-forwards and Do-overs
- What’s Your Way of Handling Conflict?
- Unfinished Family Business?
- How Are You At Predictions?
- Real or Fake – Spotting the Difference
- Hearts on Fire – Feet on the Move!
- Star Wars, the Nones, and the Good News
- Serving Others In a Digital World
- Shocking document bishops signed in the Catacombs 60 years ago
- NATO As No Action – Talk Only
- What was your mother’s special recipe?
- If Jesus’ Mother Had a Scrapbook
- Does Everybody Want to Change Your Thinking?
- Is it Time for the “Brocolli” Approach?
- Putting Newest Cardinals in Their Place
- Missing the Point!
- Can You Imagine That!
- Know Any Relationships Not Going Anywhere?
- Who, or What Has Transformed Your life?
- Have You Tried Praying the News?
- Revisiting – Are You an Original or a Photocopy?
- Nobody Wants To Do the Dishes!
- What Did Jesus Did Not Have?
- Remember Where You Were on 9/11?
- Some See More Than Others … Do You?
- Are Interruptions the story of your life?
- What Does Labor Day Mean For You?
- How Did America Get So Mean?
- What Catechism Did Jesus Use?
- Is There an “Immaculate COMPLEXION?”
- “The more things change…”
- Why is Mary Fittingly Called Queen of Heaven?
- Practical Prophets
- Name Two Women Who Changed Jesus’ Mind?
- Know Anybody Who Walks On Water
- What Are You Afraid Of?
- Suppose God Checked Your References!
- Making Connections In My Life
- What Two Days Changed Our World?
- Remember Any Sermons 30 Years Later?
- Do We “Live” the Words “All are Welcome?”
- Have You Ever Gone Out On a Limb?
- Do You Remember Your Grandparents?
- From “Sage on the Stage” To “Mentor in the Center”
- Has Pope Francis “Made a Mess?”
- When Did Christians Become Soldiers?
- Yes! I Actually Attended a Session of Vatican II
- How Have You Changed?
- Praying the Our Father With New Ears
- Are We a “Listening” Community?
- Be Honest! Do We Prefer To Serve the “Good Poor”
- Do These Images Speak To Polarization Today?
- Have You Read the Declaration of Independence Recently?
- Is July 4 a dangerous memory?
- Lessons From Those Flying Geese
- Do Mothers Have Favorites?
- What Are You Hoping For?
- A Tale of Two Tragedies At Sea
- Jeopardy and the Our Father
- Things I Did Not Know… Connections I Never Made
- Suppose You Were Asked To Be a Father To Jesus
- A “Father” Learned From His Grandfather
- Journeying From Opposites To Equals
- Lyrics That Lead to Prayer
- The NATO approach to Corpus Christi
- Imagine God Requiring a Security Deposit On “Our” Home
- I Asked the Wrong Question About the Trinity
- Mindwalking Keeps Surprising Me
- Are All Your Vacation Pictures Perfect?
- What Fire Do You Feed?
- Remember Saying, “Are We There Yet”?
- Parents – Comforters? Nudges? Both?
- Ever Know Something Was Coming But Were Unprepared?
- Learning From Roller Coasters
- What Size Is Your Dream?
- Walking In the Shoes of the Fisherman
- I Thought My Mom Knew Everything
- Surprised By Vincentian Elements at the Coronation!
- Was Jesus an “Either/Or” …or… a “Both/And” Thinker?

Have You Soundproofed Your Heart?
Pope Francis “Let us ask: In the church, are we good at listening? How good is the hearing of our heart? Do we allow people to express themselves, to walk in faith even though they have had difficulties in life, and to be part of the life of the community without being hindered, rejected or judged?

Do You Pray FOR Someone or WITH Someone?
Where two or three are gathered… A Baptist pastor’s wife taught me about praying with a person. I invite you to an examination of the power of praying with someone.

Abortion – There is No Doubt…
Pope Francis leaves no room for doubt about where he stands on what abortion. He has been unambiguously clear that the humanity of an unborn child must always be protected. Will we win the pervasive threats to life in a “throw-away culture”?

Are You a Vincentian Cricket?
St. VIncent was one of the great influencers. He lived the prayer “May love light up my mortal frame until others catch the living flame.” He set hearts afire!

The Poor Will Always Be With You??
Jesus is criticizing the disciples with this echo of Deuteronomy 15:11, where it is established that poverty is the result of society’s disobedience to God and of following the laws and commandments of empire.

What Questions Get You Thinking?
How do I want the world to be different because I lived in it?
How do I want to be different because I lived in this world?
What is wrong with the picture I see?
What is the next thing that needs to be done?

I Predict the Synod will…
The Church has just begun a three-year process focused on not only truly listening to each other. We are called to listen to the Holy Spirit whose view spans all of time and eternity. Most visitors to Vincentian Mindwalk are aware that Pope Francis is playing the “long game”on reading the signs of the times today just as Vatican II did in the mid 20th century. I predict … at least 3 simultaneous “synods”!

Do we need a reset?
Over the next three years of the “synodal process”, Jesus is asking us to gather in the upper rooms of our homes, dioceses, countries, and finally in Rome. To respectfully wait for and listen to the Spirit speaking not only to our hearts but in the hearts of our sisters and brothers. He is asking us to walk together.

Playing the Short Game Or the Long Game?
Jesus could have handed out copies of his encyclicals – the Sermon on the Mount, Beatitudes, the Our Father. Rather, he gave us his preaching as guides to understand the next stage of the journey of the Body of Christ to discover the fulness of eternal life in God!

How Can You Disagree With the Pope… and others?
The church is a family, “God’s people”. Family fights are the worst. But disagreements are part of any family or community. Suppressing them leads to frustration and dysfunctional behavior. Our goal must be to be reconcilers, not dividers.