• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Limitless love

March 6, 2020
By Father Joseph Breighner
Filed Under: Commentary, Wit & Wisdom

Several weeks ago a friend said to me: “Oh, you’ve got a big birthday coming up!”

A “big” birthday is typically one ending in zero or five. A zero means that we’re beginning or ending another decade of life. A five means that we’re half way through another decade of life.

I turned 75 in March. My mother died at age 72. My father at age 75, just like my sister, Margie. My sister, Helen, died at age 80. My brother, Bill, is 78 and in robust good health.

Unlike other families that have parents and grandparents living into their 90s and 100s, my family hasn’t done that. It seems that we’re closer to the Biblical passage that says: “Seventy is the sum of our years, or 80 if we are strong.”

We as a society have been able to extend life expectation due to good nutrition and access to medical care. In the not so distant past, failure of a crop or  in a hunt could literally lead to starvation. Sadly, parts of the developing world still live without a ready supply of food.

Our culture spends a lot of time talking about diet and exercise. I used to jog a lot in my younger days. Now I walk. We have a wonderful cook at the cathedral rectory, and yet I still manage to supplement my healthy diet with too many Berger cookies. And, perhaps, too much wine.

Wine is one thing easy to rationalize. Various studies show some physical benefits to wine. Jesus drank wine. When I mentioned Jesus drinking to an abolitionist pastor years ago, he replied: “Yes, but I would have thought more of Jesus if he hadn’t.”

In truth, life is not about how long we live, but how well we live. Often we forget that we come from God, and go back to God. Think of all the young lives lost in all of our wars, and lost daily in all of our major cities. When we forget we are made in the image and likeness of God, then we also forget how to honor that image in all the people we meet.

To requote one of my favorite formulas: “The more inadequate we feel, the more anxious we will feel, and the more hostile we will behave.”

We need to come back to seeing ourselves as created in the image and likeness of God. When we believe that we are made of the “stuff” of God, then we have the power to co-create our world again in God’s likeness. Our time is limited. Our love is not.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Father Joseph Breighner

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Thank you to a one-of-a-kind teacher

Jesus doesn’t leave us alone in the night

A homemade pie that is ready to bake sits on a kitchen counter next to a rolling pie

A Key Ingredient

Practice the ‘BeDADitudes’

Comfort my people: Unexpected surprises in life

| Recent Local News |

Prodigal son to priest

Radio Interview: Books and Authors: Inspiring Trailblazers

Future priest from Congo has a heart of service

Sister Joan Minella, former principal and pastoral life director, dies

Archbishop Lori offers encouragement to charitable agencies affected by federal cuts

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • As ‘new nightmare’ unfolds between Israel and Iran, ‘never-ending tragedy’ in Gaza continues
  • Thank you to a one-of-a-kind teacher
  • Pope asks Italian bishops to proclaim the Gospel, teach peace
  • Pope Leo XIV will escape Rome’s heat in July by going to papal villa
  • Almost half of U.S. adults have Catholic connection, but Mass makes significant difference in Catholic identity
  • Prodigal son to priest
  • U.S. bishop calls for ardent prayer, diplomacy as Israel-Iran strikes continue
  • Suspect arrested for murdering Minnesota lawmaker, husband
  • Iconic Sacre-Coeur Basilica in Paris celebrates its 150th birthday

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED