No task can substitute for love itself. The purpose of life is a person, and eventually that’s all that’ll be left. We will rest, truly rest, not in inactivity but with a person to love. When was the last time you reached “Inbox Zero?” As the name suggests, it’s the state of bliss that comes [...]
The Lord promises a real solution to sin and death. We have new hearts as far from sin and death as the east is from the west. He takes hearts of stone and makes them capable of life—death’s very contradiction. As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our [...]
Grief is a gift, not given for its own sake, but to lead us to an ever-deeper peace. It’s often said that saints beget saints. August 27th the Church honors Saint Monica, and the 28th Saint Augustine, her son. But what we now celebrate in joy Monica first sought with tears, with sorrow that begot [...]
In the Gospel, we see neither the dominance of man over beast nor worship of the awesome ocean swell. Rather, nature moves these fishermen to something greater—Jesus Christ, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the author of all nature. There’s nothing like a good fish tale. Man grappling with nature. The allure of [...]
Hope’s gaze is not a surreal view that distorts and exaggerates reality. Rather, Hope is a God’s-eye view. It is the strength to see all of reality, ignoring none of it, embracing all of it, all through the Father’s own wisdom and love. This is part of a series entitled, “The Reason for Our Hope.” [...]
On the Sunday of the Feast of Our Lord’s Baptism, the Dominican House of Studies baptized... a bell. Following the ancient tradition of dedication, we’ve prepared to incorporate the half-ton of bronze into our rhythm of daily life. In the age of watches and atomic clocks, blessing a bell is rather quaint. Delightfully antiquated as the [...]
The best moral formation often comes from music. It was my first year singing in our Dominican Schola and I was learning the intricate beauty of polyphony. A more seasoned brother leaned over and let me know that I’d really “internalized the tempo.” “Great!” I thought to myself, “I’m getting the hang of this.” My face must [...]
Early Fall is delightfully deceiving. The golden light and turning leaves are signs of things to come. They promise apple picking, hikes, and cool nights by the bonfire. They promise joy just on the horizon. But the anticipation is always better than the fruition. And once they’re had they flee. By December we’re left wondering [...]
Marigold by The Hillbilly Thomists Bluegrass is prophetic. Like Isaiah, it’s the song of the man of sorrows. Like Moses, it brings us to the desert as wayfarers far from home. It’s the music of a wanderer driven forward by his woes. And yet its driving energy reminds us that through the light of Christ, heaven’s [...]
For Karl Marx, man is by nature productive, his value is in economic output. Any theory that reduces a person’s value to a producer or a consumer, misses the mark. In contrast, the Church begins with man’s inherent human dignity. It is not work that makes man valuable, instead “the primordial value of labor stems [...]
We see the mystery of our salvation worked out in the hands of Christ the Carpenter. We see in his craft the pattern of what it means to follow Christ. Our chapel has become a workshop. The scaffolds and smells of restoration work fill the nave and sanctuary. The high altar, veiled beneath a plastic [...]