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?

Mary’s Memories – the Rosary As Her Scrapbook
“She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51)
To me, that’s another way of saying she kept her scrapbook of memories of special memories of her son in her heart.

How Christ-like Do You Think You Are?
When St. Paul asks us to “put on the mind of Christ” he has much more in mind than mouthing Jesus’ words. I believe he is asking us to look at our attitudes and actions. We are called to “walk the talk”!

Who Are You Calling a “Cafeteria Catholic”?
Many of those who take cudgels to anyone who disagrees with a Pope now often lead the charge seriously asking whether the current Pope is Catholic. And those who tended to ignore some Popes in the recent past cheer on the current Pope.
But the truth is larger than what either is willing to see and struggle to understand.

The “Dead Horse Theory” of Ministry
Organizations… and individuals… develop all kinds of strategies to cope with change. Some strategies are more successful than others. There is one strategy that has many lives … the “dead horse” theory.

The Courage to See Ourselves As God Sees Us?
As I think about contemplation, I realize that the phrase “the courage to be” might be adapted to understanding of contemplation. It takes courage to become aware of God’s long, loving look at me.

Have You Tried Christianity?
“… in the modern world we are primarily confronted with the extraordinary spectacle of people turning to new ideals because that have not tried the old. Men have got tired of Christianity; they have never found enough Christianity to get tired of.” Chesterton

Pope Francis Wants To Hear From You!
The Synod is “intended to inspire people to dream about the church we are called to be, to make people’s hopes flourish, to stimulate trust, to bind up wounds, to weave new and deeper relationships, to learn from one another, to build bridges, to enlighten minds, warm hearts, and restore strength to our hands for our common mission.”

The Gift and Challenge of Vincentian Imagination
We talk, perhaps too glibly, of the Vincentian charism. For a moment, I would like to reframe the conversation. Let’s talk about the Vincentian imagination!… and how it led to the “Vincentian Question.”

Lots of Words But… What’s the Issue?
I offer just two words not in any of the lists of racisim-related words… but at the heart of any discussion. Our Father! These two words, taught by Jesus himself, are key to who he is and who we are.

Why Is There So Much Hatred Today?
Recently, I prepared to lead a discussion on why there is so much hatred in our world. What follows draws heavily from Why People Hate: The Science Behind Why We Love to Hate.