I was pondering, today, the idea that once retail stores open, people will be less willing — perhaps unwilling at all — to try on clothes that others have tried on. Everything is going to change. Over at Word on Fire, I’ve written a short piece on how things might change for the Church as well, at least until a reliable vaccine has been produced to battle back and control Covid-19. Some people believe that Read more…
“These days, politics seems to dictate that if one party says, “The sky is blue,” the other party is obligated to reply, “No, it’s not, and you’re a terrible human being for thinking that.” That leaves no room for science, in which the data speak for themselves, regardless of ideology, and only when they’re ready. Unfortunately, the visceral excitement of political conflict draws far more clicks and better ratings than the methodical world of science.” Read more…
The Way of the Cross is an ancient devotion of the Church which has been used for centuries to bring the believer into deeper union with the Passion of Jesus Christ, using words, prayer, imagery and visual aids to effectively join Jesus on his walk to Calvary. This is written in the hope that, in these these meditations, people undergoing evaluation and treatment for physical or emotional illness may find companionship, understanding and even, with Read more…
It’s a time for hard questions. And hard answers. All week long, I have been pondering this piece I wrote a while back, a mediation on why, if we keep the crucifix before our eyes, it will teach us everything, and train us for the long view It’s not that I’m an egoist, so fascinated with my own words. In truth, most of the time I forget what I’ve written unless someone reminds me or Read more…
One of the great pleasures of working with the Word on Fire Team is the opportunity to contribute, as both writer and editor, to the Word on Fire Institute’s quarterly journal, Evangelization and Culture, a beautifully wrought printed journal overseen by the remarkable Tod Worner and WoF’s extremely talented graphics team. Each issue concentrates on a particularly theme: Our first issue was all about creativity and the Christian imagination. The second focused on the poor Read more…
O, Christ Jesus, help us to refine our perspective on what we call a blessing or a curse. Help us to remember that hindsight is the great bring of wisdom, by which we realize that some perceived ‘blessings’ have — because we are broken — served our weakness, while some real tragedies have fortified our strength; that we are always and forever in the midst of a great and unseen battle by which both darkness Read more…
When evil wants to foment misery, it destroys the joyful. When evil wants to sow darkness, it clouds the light. When evil wants to instill despair, it hinders goodness. When evil wants us to believe in lies, it shadows the truth. When evil wants to destroy hope, it hides beauty. Our job is to keep seeking the joyful, the light-bearing, the good, the true and the beautiful, uncovering it from where it is buried or Read more…
Over at Word on Fire, I am still looking at one particular piece of scripture — and the important question Jesus asks — because it’s been a very rich bit of Lectio: We put enough expectations upon holiness to be ever-shocked at a suggestion of imperfection, or sin. But that only means we have been looking at the world through eyes willing to be deluded, rather than Godly eyes. Because God is never surprised, or Read more…
I wrote this short story for Christmas in 2013. Hope you will share with your family. Audible link below My little cousin and I watch as my uncle washes away the blood and examines the wound. He is making that odd breathless noise — halfway between a gasp of surprise and a sigh of regret — that he always makes when an attack has been thwarted. My uncle, after all, is nearly 40, an old Read more…
It was a great pleasure to be asked to blurb the latest edition in Ave Maria Press’ “30 Days With a Great Spiritual Teacher” series of small devotionals. This one, Set Aside Every Fear, features the writings of Catherine of Siena, and her words worked powerfully on me, and so I gave it a very enthusiastic thumbs up: “Set Aside Every Fear not only helps us to become acquainted with the great St. Catherine of Read more…