Recent Entries

• Congregation for Religious Tolerance - Three Years Later

  by Tony Villari April 8, 2016
  It has been three years since I founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and its associated blog, "The Path."  Since that time, I have published 542 posts, at last count, and those have garnered 21,000 pageviews from over 65 countries.  These numbers should make me p...
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• Faith Without Ego

  by Tony Villari April 7, 2016
  What the Vatican, and other world religious leaders, seem to always forget in the fog of pride and ego, their zeal to keep the masses bowing down to kiss the pope's Piscatory Ring, is a faith that goes beyond their petty desires and agenda. It is a faith which transcends religious denomina...
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• Faith Is Not a Book

  by Tony Villari April 1, 2016
  Faith isn't a book of scripture. Putting faith in a book will garner nothing. What the book says, however, might show you how and why to have faith, because your decision to have faith is a choice. We are inundated in film and book by images of the faithful holding the Bible in front of them as if i...
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• Easter 2016

  by Tony Villari March 24, 2016
  Ever wonder what the state of Christianity is in the world today?  Ever thought about why Christianity seems to be losing the battles and the war?  Take a minute and look up Easter Images on Google.  You'll find voluminous images of bunnies and eggs, but very ...

• The Price for a Day of My Life

  by Tony Villari March 19, 2016
  They say you can't go back home again, and this is true, for the most part.  When we leave we grow in ways those who stayed don't experience.  Some of us experience the world, others a small part of it.  At the end of our journey, when we try to go back, we see home in a different lig...
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• Palm Sunday

  by Tony Villari March 18, 2016
  I vote we remember those "heroes who have recently died without denying their faith.  Let us remember the heroes of Christianity, Judaism, and of peaceful Islam, who stand and confront this newest of evils infecting our world, and let us give them our praise as "medals of honor" to those who wi...
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• The Fall of the Western Empire

  by Tony Villari March 4, 2016
  Some would say this unavoidable outcome of democracy is why our forefathers founded the United States of America as a republic and not a democracy. The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.  Looking at the United States we see irrefutable evidence Sir Alex knew of what he spoke.  ...
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• Robotic Empathy

  by Tony Villari February 27, 2016
  I happened across this YouTube video, thanks to a dear friend, Atlas, the Next Generation.  I have a long affinity for anything robotic since my first encounter with them in the science fiction movies of the fifties.  I think my first memory is the 1954 film, Tobor the ...
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• Visibility: Ten Miles, Unobstructed

  by Tony Villari February 25, 2016
  I'm sitting at a four way stop in the middle of the desert, wondering to myself why there is a four way stop in the middle of a desert with miles of clear, unobstructed view.  Where's the massive traffic the highway safety board seems so concerned over?  What is more confusing is why the...

• Beware of the Children

  by Tony Villari February 20, 2016
  Beware of the children. Have you seen them? Their eyes seem as wide as saucers from ingesting mass quantities of various energy drinks. Their fingers have a nervous twitch developed from hours of online gaming and texting. When they congregate, which is rare, they do so in small groups, dressing som...

• The Most Important Day

  by Tony Villari February 16, 2016
  The most important day in your life is the day you decide you are good enough for you.  That's the day you set yourself free.  That's the day you begin to love yourself and to understand it is okay for things to be all about you.  Loving others can be all about you.  Loving God c...

• A Rambling on Consideration of Dis-Appearance

  by Tony Villari February 14, 2016
  The building is yellow with white trim, fairly narrow, with six floors of apartments on top of a ground floor bakery.  Color, shape, size, and function; we look at a building, at architecture, and we make a judgment, from a distance, as to whether we like it or not.  Would we purchase it? ...
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• Rest in Peace

  by Tony Villari February 12, 2016
  What will people say about you when you've died?  What will your epitaph say?  When it comes right down to it, why do you give a fig what it says, or what people think - you're dead!  If you cared what they thought you would have lived your life like you cared and there...
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• The Faceless

  by Tony Villari February 6, 2016
  They are as faceless as they are nameless. I think, as you get older, it gets worse, this thing called recognition. Soon the faces run together like too much paint on a canvas. White, black, yellow, red, pretty soon one person looks like another and there are over 7,324,782,225 of them to taunt our ...
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• Internet, Enter Evil?

  by Tony Villari February 5, 2016
  Mankind has such capacity for good, and yet we constantly strive to foment evil in our lives.  You don't agree with this comment?  Consider those that do not want internet rules and controls.  Why not?  Why not protect society from criminal, evil, and immoral practices which the ...
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• Middle Ground

  by Tony Villari January 30, 2016
  All the definitions for "middle ground" seem to mean essentially the same thing.  When it comes to relationships, the "halfway" or "neutral" standpoint comes into play.   I have never been a fan of the neutral standpoint.  It is noncommittal and evidences fear to take a stand one way ...
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• Who You Are

  by Tony Villari January 26, 2016
  "Where you're from determines who you are." Heard this commercial? Who comes up with this pseudo psychobabble? If we accept this, then if you grow up in the ghetto, you are, therefore, the ghetto. You from a welfare family, therefore you'll always be on welfare. You're a white from Mississippi; ther...

• Parenthood Stolen

  by Tony Villari January 21, 2016
  What can be worse than a child losing a parent, or having a parent that is never there?  Perhaps it's being the parent and losing your rights to exercise the fact, or being a parent and not realizing the joy of parenthood until the time has passed you by.  How about when all of this pertai...

• Making a Difference: A Big One?

  by Tony Villari January 17, 2016
    Ever feel like you're not making a difference in the world - a big difference?  I had to think about this one, because Lori's statement, in the opening quote, gave me pause.  Her desire is, no doubt, laudable, but...damn!  "My plate is full, no doubt, but it can hand...

• Pie Crust

  by Tony Villari January 16, 2016
  Give me a choice between a sugary, fattening, fruit pie or a warm, savory, meat pie... I will always take the latter, especially if it has both top and bottom crusts.  Even during my stint in Mexico, I looked forward to finding my basket toting vendor, selling his savory, handheld mea...
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• Stress

  by Tony Villari January 7, 2016
  There are other things I cannot abide in my life that will cause me stress. One is that I abhor people who think they're smart enough to use me without me knowing their doing it, including "friends," family, and people saying they "love" me. If they're succeeding, it's only because I have allowed it...

• Persuading to Believe?

  by Tony Villari January 4, 2016
  Science will never be able to disprove the existence of God as long as all the proof they continue to accumulate strengthens the belief that there is, in fact, a supreme power at work in the universe.  What name science gives this power is of little consequence to the true person of faith who w...
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• Just Walk Away

  by Tony Villari December 30, 2015
  There comes a time when one has to throw up their hands in surrender at trying to deal with those whose only mission would seem to be clouding our happiness.  Sometimes they aren't even aware they're doing it and even in their denial in their denial they can manage to magnify the drama several ...

• Online Ministry "Friends" and "Followers"

  by Tony Villari December 27, 2015
  When you run an online business, you do so hoping that your bottom line, your profits, grows exponentially.  It is, after all, a business.  Spirituality, religious belief, and faith, however, are not a business.  Televangelists have tried very hard to make it one without admitting to ...

• Happy Day of Christ's Birth!

  by Tony Villari December 22, 2015
  Let's face it, Christmas is getting a bad rap and it's our own damned fault.  Google Christmas, if you don't believe me, and look at the roots, definition, and sin surrounding what we Christians hold dear.  Understand here, that I love celebrating the birth of Jesus regardless of...

• Time

  by Tony Villari December 19, 2015
  There never seems to be enough time.  Of course, you don't realize this when you're young.  I think realization hits somewhere around the middle of your working life when you realize money can buy you everything, but you still empty.  It's the point you admit that no amount of money c...
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• God Isn't Repairing Our Failures

  by Tony Villari December 16, 2015
  Why isn't God fixing this?  By "this" we mean problems, and death, caused by people?  Are we to assume God is expected to step in whenever man displays an inept ability to do what is right?  Think about this from a good sense point of view.  Why would you create somethi...
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• Going to Church

  by Tony Villari December 13, 2015
  I don't go to church, unless it is a special occasion and I'm required to attend at the behest of good friends or family. I haven't made church part of my weekly ritual since before I left home for the military. It had nothing to do with Matthew's verse. Truth be told, at eleven years of age I wasn'...

• Little Green Men

  by Tony Villari December 11, 2015
  We'll need to get passed this proper name for God issue.  Allah, the Great Spirit, Brahman, Tawa, Wankan Tanka, and Yaweh, to name a few, are really just other names for the one God.  Who is right?  Well, as the Bible says, who are we to judge?  Each of us will stand or fall befo...
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• Stereotyping Peaceful Islam - Inherently Vicious Pit Bulls?

  by Tony Villari December 4, 2015
  "Pit Bulls are inherently vicious."  Have you ever heard this mindless tripe?  Have you ever run into a clueless, intolerant person that feels the entire breed of dog should be eradicated for reasons they cannot support with any evidence?  It's kind of like justifying genocide by simp...
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• Taking Face-to-Face? What a Concept!

  by Tony Villari December 1, 2015
  All of my friends give me grief over the fact that I still have a "flip" phone.  I carry my flip phone everywhere, and there is a reason for it.  I carry it at my mother's request so, in the event of an emergency, if anything were to happen to her or dad, I can be reached.  That's it....

• Your Path

  by Tony Villari November 30, 2015
  I get messages from people talking about their struggle to find their particular path in life.  They seem amazed when I laugh and inform them they are searching for something they already have.  They want to find love, not realizing simply initiating the search was proof they already have....

• Hope in the Face of Terror?

  by Tony Villari November 29, 2015
  I have had the distasteful pleasure of confronting two gentlemen of late, one I know quite well and the other a total stranger.  Both have an attitude toward Islam that the only good Muslim is a dead one.  I would like to hand each of them a machete and a five year old Muslim child.  ...

• Thanksgiving 2015: Share Your Appreciation

  by Tony Villari November 23, 2015
  Selfishly, we tend to be thankful for our lifestyle, our loves, and the food on the table.  Our real thanks should go to those which make life worth living - those around us; family, friends, and those we don't yet know.  The checker at the supermarket, the guy dumping your trash, the bag ...

• The Face of Heresy?

  by Tony Villari November 20, 2015
  I was brought up by my father to call a spade a spade.  You can call the queen of hearts a spade if you want to, but everyone else around the table will think you're an idiot and take you to the cleaners.  This is pretty much what the heretical leadership of the Islamic State is banking on...

• Terror Attacks in Paris

  by Tony Villari November 19, 2015
  Where change is the only constant in the universe, evil seems to be the change when we allow history to repeat.  We never learn the lesson of an immediate and overwhelmingly terrible response to absolute evil.  Again, as in wars past, we find ourselves at the tipping point, shoulder to sho...

• Vanity and Pride

  by Tony Villari November 10, 2015
  What would you have others think of you, and does what they think really matter? Well, if you're ashamed to be seen as a fat person, which would be vanity. If you're afraid they laughing at you behind your back, that would be them just being rude and thoughtless. But, what if their comments aren't h...

• On Love... Just a Thought, or Two

  by Tony Villari November 8, 2015
  When I was just a child, I was fortunate to have the experience of animals, in particular, cats and dogs. There is something about the love of an animal that prepares you for the love of people, and teaches you a love of self. Of course, this is something we experience as a child, and immediately fo...

• Will You Answer the Call?

  by Tony Villari November 6, 2015
  When you are called, do you answer?  Or, do you simply turn away?  Can you even admit to some cognizance of knowing if and when you might have been called to task?  Is your life so screwed up, so complicated and full of crap, that even God's call would go unheeded?...

• Happiness: Who Is Responsible?

  by Tony Villari October 28, 2015
  As the doldrums of winter approach, I see comments from those around me, those in my circle, and some readers around the world, alluding to the miseries of life.  I wrote about this topic the middle of January this year (see You're Already There), when the end of the 2014 holiday seas...

• Why a Church?

  by Tony Villari October 16, 2015
  I find it interesting that Matthew 6:5-6 reflects my own opinion on the subject, and yet the Church spent the next two thousand years denying his words for the benefit of their own coffers, and control of the flock. Pass the basket and tithe till it hurts! Talk about hypocrisy. But, then, who am I t...
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• Suffer the Children?

  by Tony Villari October 12, 2015
  Is it just me, or is everyone missing the point of harvesting fetal body parts for research?  It seems everyone gets so wrapped up in the morality of "harvesting for sale" that the issue of murdering said babies is pushed off to the side and forgotten under the voluminous pile of horseshit bein...
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• The Holiday Season

  by Tony Villari October 9, 2015
  It would seem those without Christian faith selfishly want all the material and emotional gifts that come with celebrating this annual season of Christianity, without investing themselves in the requisite faith the season celebrates; wanting everything without having to work for it. Sounds a lot lik...

• Friends Along Our Path

  by Tony Villari October 2, 2015
  Which would you be more apt to remember, the cute little girl, the loyal friend, or the jackass?  The truth is, anyone we meet can be a friend along our path as long as we are willing to treat them as we would want to be treated.  With enough tolerance, love, and understanding, even the ja...
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• The Image of God?

  by Tony Villari September 25, 2015
  I have struggled with my own artistic ability for years.  My struggle was with my own lack of confidence to produce any work that would truly reflect my spirituality.  Every artist would like to be a Michelangelo, Picasso, Jules Verne, Frank Lloyd Wright, or Socrates.     Mine wa...

• How Good Is It to Have Faith?

  by Tony Villari September 11, 2015
  How good is it to have faith in your life?  Have you even considered the question in your own life?  I would love to hear answers from all of my readers.  These are the answers we all need to hear and consider.  Your task for this coming Sunday is to answer the que...

• The Best Sermons Are Lived!

  by Tony Villari September 10, 2015
  My friend Nyal sent me an email, the body of which I have attached below.  I think it has some meaning here.  One can try to make up a sermon, or one can draw from experience.  It has been my experience that interesting, humorous, and meaningful anecdotes occur in our lives constantly...

• To My Kids... I Love You!

  by Tony Villari August 28, 2015
  When was the last time you thought for the spiritual welfare of another, asked God to bless them, and not yourself? Just a thought... Not typical for me, this is a short post.  It was brought on by a reader of mine in the Philippines.  Please take a moment to consider Bernad...

• Radical "Islam"

  by Tony Villari August 20, 2015
  Iran would like to assist in the nuclear destruction of the world for the greater glory of Allah.  Okay, so we have proof that morons can actually rise to power in the third world.  No mystery here.  It might be relevant to point out to these geniuses that nuclear fallout over Israel ...
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• "Common" Sense?

  by Tony Villari August 14, 2015
  Back when I was growing up, mom would always advise that, when in doubt, always use good common sense.  That was truly sage advice, especially because everyone knew what common sense was... I mean, it was common.  No one uses common sense anymore and, according to Volta...
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• Missing the Message

  by Tony Villari August 3, 2015
  If you have a trusted friend with a doctorate in aeronautics, yet has never flown a plane, would you let him fly your family?  All the higher education in the world is no substitute for the lowly "school of hard knocks."  There is nothing like the voice of experience, especially ...
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• Not My Circus, Not My Monkey!

  by Tony Villari July 30, 2015
  With everything going on in the world today that is of so much more importance than  the trivial bullshit involved in the circus we visit upon ourselves, maybe we should all recognize, early on, there is nothing entertaining here and learn to leave the "big top" when we see the monkey has set t...

• No Prisoner the Mind

  by Tony Villari July 28, 2015
  The body was crippled up, probably with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, he wasn't as bad as Stephen Hawking, but he was still young and I assumed time would not be his friend.  He looked to be in his thirties; hard to tell with the body surrendering itself to physical ...
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• The Enemy of Life

  by Tony Villari July 26, 2015
  It's not our battle!  This is the battle cry of the future victims of atrocity.  Innocence is being murdered in the world, and if you don't take a stand against it for the sake of the innocent, there will be no one left to take a stand when the monsters come for you.  It truly co...
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• The Fate of the World (or a small piece of it)

  by Tony Villari July 20, 2015
  What did we do in the cold war?  We were the deterrent.  We held back the apocalypse through a threat of total nuclear annihilation and, thank God, we never had to prove our resolve.  If you are reading this, you still exist.  You still exist because of people like these folks th...

• Freedom of Choice

  by Tony Villari July 17, 2015
  A person's destiny lies somewhere up ahead, but their ultimate fate is in the hands of God.  As the Brazilian novelist, Paulo Coelho, states it, "I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe ...
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• Freedom in the First: Right of Religion

  by Tony Villari July 13, 2015
  We tend to forget that everybody has the right to live, work, and worship, or not, in peace.  And, for some reason, we find it necessary to try and force our beliefs on each other.  Our ego seems to get in the way of our good sense to the point where religious icons are removed from public...
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• Dealing with Leftovers

  by Tony Villari July 11, 2015
  Bad things that happen to us, things we find difficult to deal with, so difficult that we tend to pack them away, like the leftovers of a less than palatable turkey at Thanksgiving.  It would be nice if we could just forget about it, throw it out, but we invested a bit of time, money and effort...

• Who is Truly Free?

  by Tony Villari July 6, 2015
  Like Adam in the garden, life is full of choices.  The apples are put before us and the rules are simple - don't eat of the forbidden fruit.  Unfortunately we are human and, as smart as many of us may think we are, we aren't.  The rich and powerful, the haves and have mores, the beaut...

• We See What We Want to See

  by Tony Villari July 6, 2015
  We see what we want to see, whether imagined or real.  We humans tend to see with our hearts and then we shake off our initial reaction and jump into analysis.  Angels, bleeding and crying religious icons, ghosts and flying saucers, all send our imaginations into overtime, for a moment. &n...
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• God's Rainbow Promise

  by Tony Villari July 5, 2015
  Ask and ye shall receive!  Once again I went out to my readership for a topic and, once again, they have not failed to come through for me.  Terry and Lori both have questions of which I, of course, have my own humble opinion.  I'll tell you mine, if you'll tell me yours.  To rea...

• Gay Christian, Gay Marriage - Part 2

  by Tony Villari June 28, 2015
  When I wrote my latest post, My Sunday Thought for June 28, 2015: Gay Christian, Gay Marriage, I knew I was, once again, stepping into controversy rife with strong emotion.  When I posted it on the monastery's minister site, however, I had no idea it would cause the outpouring of comments ...
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• Gay Christian, Gay Marriage

  by Tony Villari June 27, 2015
  We all want to have an opinion on this subject, and opinions are a good thing as long as they're constructive. Unfortunately, we are only human, and we fail miserably when it comes to doing our own homework so we can form our own informed, intelligent, opinions. We tend to operate on the agendas spe...
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• Misguided Faith?

  by Tony Villari June 22, 2015
  So, is your faith misguided? Only you can answer that question, but try to remember, God knows what truth is in your heart. Is it your truth or the minister's each Sunday? Is it yours, or the priest's passing the basket for this weeks "tithing? (Don't forget to give till it hurts. Are you ...
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• Drawing the Prophet Muhammad?

  by Tony Villari June 17, 2015
  As to the issue of drawing the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Guardian, posted this article: Drawing the prophet: Islam’s hidden history of Muhammad images.  I think this short article does the subject respectful justice, and invite you to take...

• Walk by Faith, Not by Sight

  by Tony Villari June 14, 2015
  We are instructed to "walk by faith, not by sight" because, "The Scripture kills, but The Spirit gives life."  Yet, time and again we find ourselves confronted by those faithful who wield the written bible as a shield or a sword, or both, depending on their need of the moment.  Have they n...

• What Is Ramadan?

  by Tony Villari June 12, 2015
  So, just what is Islam's blessed month of Ramadan? Well, it should make us all feel bad as Muslims, Christians, and Jews if we don't do what Islam does for more than one "blessed month" a year. To read more of this post, and I sincerely hope you will, please follow this link:  What Is Rama...
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• Will You Stand for Christ?

  by Tony Villari June 9, 2015
  Summer Woods asks an important question, and it is an easy one to answer... when you don't have the blade of knife to your throat.  But, have you really thought about it?  Have you run through the mental film footage of being roughly thrown to the ground, made to kneel while your...
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• Can Muslims Convert?

  by Tony Villari June 9, 2015
  Few religions can tout perfection.  Few are without lapses in moral judgment.  However, I think we would be better served to stop finding reasons to divide and conquer and start finding reason to live and let live.  Why would a philosophy wish to convert?  The first reason I can ...
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• The Bible? Uhh... Bonjour!

  by Tony Villari June 7, 2015
  Have you seen this commercial for State Farm Insurance?   You Can't Lie on the Internet is one of those commercials that is so memorable as a cliché, you can't remember what product it was selling.  Because of it, Bonjour has become the new retort to an...
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• I Love You!

  by Tony Villari June 3, 2015
  I love you.  No, I really do love you, each and every one of you.  But, wait a darn minute, you say, love is an "attraction based on sexual desire; an affection and tenderness felt by lovers."  Have I lost my mind?  Maybe I lost it somewhere back in the free love movement of the ...

• What We Need

  by Tony Villari May 29, 2015
  There are three Catholics I have developed respect for after leaving Catholicism for my own path - Pope Francis, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, and Father Jonathan Morris.  My reasons for respect are as straight forward as their commentary on any subject.  I hope you find something meaningful in ...

• What's the Point?

  by Tony Villari May 28, 2015
  Be happy.  Be happy every minute of your life.  If your current life does not allow it, change the life you have until you are happy.  The morning may come when you wake up wondering, as you walk into the bathroom, if you're supposed to be happy.  You look into the mirror, and as...
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• Memorial Day - 2015

  by Tony Villari May 22, 2015
  Why is peace so elusive for humans?  Is it part of our genetic makeup to destroy ourselves in the quest to not destroy ourselves?  The "civilized" world expounds ideas of lofty morality in our efforts to protect the freedom and liberty of the downtrodden and the weak.  The world devel...
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• The Human Circus

  by Tony Villari May 20, 2015
  Have you ever just gone into a tavern, bar, or restaurant for the express purpose of watching the people?  If you pay close enough attention you will be treated to a great parade of the human condition.  This is what  I find myself doing when I go out to relax.  I tend to frequen...
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• The Testimony of Sister Diana

  by Tony Villari May 17, 2015
  Unlike Pastor Niemoller, here we have a Dominican willing to speak out; willing to go on the offensive.  I offer that any government office seeking to silence such testimony is treading, quite obviously, into the realm of "collusion with the enemy."  As a military man, I despise traitors t...

• The Confusing Path to Salvation

  by Tony Villari May 10, 2015
  Religion and spirituality is a matter of deep personal choice.  Can you choose poorly?  Well, did the victims of Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple choose poorly?  I think so; after all, they died and Jones shot himself in the head like the true coward he turned out to be.  But, ch...

• God and Baltimore

  by Tony Villari May 1, 2015
  Racism?  In Baltimore?  Not according to the black friends I have that happen to be from there.  They have lost no time throwing the bullpoop card on the events that are unfolding, as they did during the Ferguson riots.  Ladies and gentlemen, let me clarify for our brothers and s...
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• Oh, Pooh!

  by Tony Villari April 24, 2015
  Sometimes I wonder if it's because we have forgotten to expect the best or if we've forgotten what the best looks like so, when we're confronted with mediocrity, we're satisfied. It's the mindset being forced on us where everyone gets a trophy for participating; there are no winners or losers. Is it...
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• Second Star to the Right

  by Tony Villari April 20, 2015
  Sometimes I think that is what most Christians, ministers, and priests do, just say anything that comes into their heads.  Usually that entails quoting the biblical scripture, which entails the listener to have serious faith.  Think of it as a horse race.  The Bible, an hour before po...

• The Value of Family

  by Tony Villari April 18, 2015
  This will probably open a Pandora's Box of differing opinion, primarily due to semantics.  If it does then I have accomplished one of my goals in writing these long winded posts, so here it goes.  Is it "why," or is it "what?"  Isn't what the family exists for, the same...

• Tolerance or Respect?

  by Tony Villari April 17, 2015
  I think we all wish this was a perfect world, though we constantly prove, through our own ignorance and prejudices, it isn't.  People will not change overnight.  The best we can hope for, in this world of emotional, cultural, and political extremes, is to find some middle ground where we c...
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• The Storm

  by Tony Villari April 14, 2015
  It seems that when our troubles are long legged, when our storms seem to take on a life of their own and set up residence in our lives for the long haul, we tend to forget why the troubles exist. When we forget why our lives are in turmoil, we start to find other targets on which to assign blame for...

• The Path We Take

  by Tony Villari April 11, 2015
  If you have chosen the right path, you will know.  The path will not be a selfish one, and it will lead where all paths ultimately lead.  Your path will be like a stairway with multiple landings, halls, and rooms.  Each landing may represent a different lifetime, each hallway a differ...

• Who Do You Trust with Your Soul?

  by Tony Villari April 10, 2015
  Have you seen the television commercial where the disc jockey masquerades as a financial advisor, asking potential clients if they consider him trustworthy, knowledgeable, and if they'd trust him as their financial advisor?  My view of financial advisors is, if they were any good, why would the...

• Yom Hashoah Ve-Hagevurah - Holocaust and Heroism

  by Tony Villari April 9, 2015
  As much as some the world would like to see this historic period erased from memory, we cannot.  How do we erase the memory of entire family lines eradicated?  How do we erase the memory of numbered tattoos on the arms of the survivors?  Soon, those tattoos will turn to dust with the ...
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• Did Christ Go to Hell?

  by Tony Villari April 8, 2015
  I would have to say, as my first blush, I see no reason why Christ would not pay a visit, if for no other reason than to remind Satan about God's omnipotence and dominion.  The Bible skirts the issue, and for good reason in my humble opinion - Jesus never said He visited hell when he reappeared...
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• Holocaust Remembrance Day

  by Tony Villari April 3, 2015
  What will it take for people of faith to become righteous?  What more do you think God owes you before you speak out and take action against atrocities?  We will all be judged for our inaction in protecting the weak and helpless.  In the end, we will all have to st...
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• Easter 2015

  by Tony Villari April 2, 2015
  There is nothing more we can ask of one that has given everything, for there is no greater love than to give up one's life for your fellow man.  We can ask Hid forgiveness for our weaknesses.  We can offer up our love and respect for His sacrifice.  We can recognize, through His risin...

• Memories and Love Lost - Part 2

  by Tony Villari March 31, 2015
  So, what of the love lost?  Was it never meant to be, or was it, perhaps, that what was meant to be was fulfilled?  Or, does it really matter in the first place?  What was, was, and are memories. What is, is, and... now are memories. What will be, will be, and is what we make, or don'...

• Praise God... Always?

  by Tony Villari March 30, 2015
  I think we need to ask ourselves, why our God would want to be praised all the time.  This is a question that strikes to the very bone of Abrahamic faith.  Psychologically, why do we want praise?  We are usually after a stroking of our ego through acceptance, reassurance, co...
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• Memories and Love Lost

  by Tony Villari March 29, 2015
    You loved for a reason, or it wasn't love.  If it wasn't love it was probably lust.  If it wasn't lust, it was probably stupidity, and you really can't cure stupid.  But, you can try to learn from the mistakes without dwelling on them.  If you must dwell on some part of a...
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• Bullies and Jealousy

  by Tony Villari March 27, 2015
  Bullies.  They're all over the news today.  The reasons they bully are nothing but excuses for parental and societal shortcomings.  These excuses do not give the bully a free pass from taking ownership of their own pitiful egos and trying to be more than the sorry excuse for humanity ...
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• Palm Sunday

  by Tony Villari March 26, 2015
  Daily we are tasked to carry our Lord, and by him we are graced with palms before our feet as we trod our path into the Holy land, which is His kingdom.  Who are we to ask for more, or to place ourselves higher than those around us due to the honor of the task we have undertaken?  We do th...

• The Narrow Path

  by Tony Villari March 25, 2015
  Sometimes we tend to narrow our path forward as we search for some illusive sense of beauty and "perfection" in our lives.  At times perfection is necessary in order to meet certain parameters required for efficiency.  But, beauty, per the examples Wells uses, is not necessary for this eff...

• On Being Human

  by Tony Villari March 24, 2015
  If we really want to know what makes us human we need to answer the question of why we are.  Why are we here?  Why do we exist?  Why were we brought into being as the weakest, yet most intelligent being on this planet?  Why were we endowed with this intelligence th...
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• Don't Drink the Fruit Punch

  by Tony Villari March 23, 2015
  It doesn't take much to declare yourself a minister.  You can do it simply by stating the fact and choosing a lofty title.  The next step is to have a congregation which, according to the bible, means at least one other person needs to buy into your message.  If you want to perform a ...
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• At Harmony with Contrarian Thought

  by Tony Villari March 19, 2015
  Why bother arguing when you know it is pointless?  If you aren't involved in governmental politics, then why bother?  And, even then, why bother?  It isn't as though they ever accomplish anything.  Those that know me also know my question of choice is "why?"  To read more of...

• Proving Faith: At What Cost Ministry?

  by Tony Villari March 17, 2015
    Prove to me that you're a minister, before I train you on how to be one, and then pay me for the privilege of learning from me what God intended for me to give you freely - knowledge of the love of God and Jesus Christ. Come again? What sense does this make? Did God really intend for men, ap...
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• PTSD: God's Curse?

  by Tony Villari March 16, 2015
  Is PTSD a curse, or just the end result of overloading our moral circuit breaker?  Is it payment for feelings and emotions we have forgotten how to understand; a penance for our inability to find forgiveness from God for doing what is required to survive against evil in our world?  Perhaps...