As we rise for our labors each day, the dawn wakes and revives us. But our God needs none to rouse him. If you long for him, it is not to stir him to your aid. It is because he has awoken you. Awake, lyre and harp. I will awake the dawn. (Ps 57:8) It [...]
God is the goal of our lives, so our service is directed to him. Mammon, on the other hand, is just a tool to be used for this journey. Two years ago, the passing of Queen Elizabeth evinced reverent sadness, even in a country as allergic to monarchy as America. Despite our national history, Disney [...]
If you still get distracted in prayer, still get angry unreasonably, still dread lots of tasks that you should be doing—take your focus off the feelings. Instead, ask yourself: do I know what I should be doing? If not, pray to God to show you. Two truths of the Christian life: First, self-reflection is a [...]
The Cross is fearful to the natural eye and distasteful to the natural heart, but you have a new light and a new heart. We hold on to Jesus by God’s strength, not our own. This is not a time to be timid—Christian hope has the daring of a lover, a face “set like flint.” [...]
When I think of Lent, I think of suffering—particularly my own suffering. Lent brings up the juvenile dread I felt as a child when I knew that candy and TV were on the chopping block. Even throughout high school and college, I always associated Lent with a melancholic focus on penance. Listening to the Church’s [...]
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isa 30:15) While visiting my family a few weeks ago, I witnessed my nephew’s baptism. Little Leo Michael became a saint of God on December 28, 2024. Without [...]
I look out my cell’s window as dawn breaks upon the priory, but the autumn leaves that used to reflect the morning rays have all fallen away. We had a long fall in DC, but I would not have it longer, even though the winter brings its melancholy. We grow weary of the seasons. Winter’s [...]
Plato wrote his Allegory of the Cave about the journey from ignorance to true philosophy, but I think his allegory fits another journey even better: the journey of the Christian life. Plato tells a curious story in his Republic. It goes like this: Many people are chained up, head to toe, in the deepest, darkest part [...]
Even a devout Christian thinks first of himself, of what he can do to glorify God. Although this is a good and holy desire, placing it first can be dangerous—it draws our eyes on ourselves rather than on God. The beauty of the Dominican life is that it puts first what ought to be first: the [...]
In this month of May—as the days slowly grow warmer and leaves steadily fill the trees—take some advice from the plants. Root your moral life in the firm soil of steady habits—morning prayers, healthy eating, evening reading—and let them do their thing. Trust me, you’ll see a difference. Just don’t expect it tomorrow. I planted [...]
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; let us rejoice and be glad. But let us not suppose that our Passover, the sacrifice of our lives in union with his, is complete. In April of 2022, a few months before taking the Dominican habit, I walked around the Notre Dame campus with a Dominican friar. A [...]