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…
The story goes that if the legendary composer and orchestrator Duke Ellington had met you and gotten his hands on your mailing address, you could expect a Christmas card from him. It may not come at Christmas but at some point during the year, his personally written and signed greetings would grace your mailbox. “Duke Ellington and I exchanged Christmas greetings each year,” wrote Joe Delaney of the Las Vegas Sun. “Mine were sent in Read more…
If this feels “long” to you, you can get the shorter version here In general when on social media, I have tried to have a care, and to say what I mean with sincerity and clarity, and I’ve been told that I manage to do so with some success, most of the time. But sometimes, it all goes splat. Yesterday was one of those times. I made a terrible mistake on Twitter — a big Read more…
Just received a copy of Leonard DeLorenzo’s new book, A God Who Questions, and I want to make a point of recommending this slender volume to everyone, because it is such an unusual, thoughtful book and one that can really reinvigorate your prayerlife or jump-start your practice of lectio divina. What DeLorenzo has done with this book is turned the tables on us a little, in a counter-intuitive but enlightening way. Our habit is always Read more…