The Resurrection means nothing if it doesn’t mean that we, too, will be raised from the dead in body and soul by Christ’s power. Tucked away in a dusty valley in the South of France, in the hill country that slopes up from the Mediterranean, there shines in the darkness of a medieval church a [...]
You never find the prophet exalted in his own times. If you do speak what is true and do what is right in your life, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your office, you will suffer. Carving wood is difficult. Let’s say you are carving a sign, carving some letters into a piece of wood. [...]
Saint Dominic, born into the heat of midsummer on the high plains of Spain, was made for this season. Instead of frustrating him, the heat drove him on. Preaching is a business that needs someone hot-blooded. The Spirit enkindles, but the preacher must tend the flame in the hearts God so desires. Zeal for souls [...]
A noise echoes. It comes from the light, from the house, drowning out the sounds of darkness. Trumpets and the sound of the horn? Or is it the sound of those waters stirred up? I’ve left the plow, left my work belt, my hammer, my tools of meager existence—left my unmoving toil. And I took [...]
Footwear will pass away, along with the earth and seas. But, before that time when we can kick off these old shoes, the cobbler needs to earn his daily wage. The shoe must be worn down, being about the Lord’s business. Forma Vitae: An Essay on the Dominican Life A “forma vitae” essay is meant [...]
For any academic—family man and consecrated religious alike—solitude must be actively sought. And only then, when quiet of soul is found, can one throw all the powers of his mind and heart into his work. In the glories of spring, stepping away from the books more than usual to smell the flowers and soak in the sun [...]
In inspiring the men around him to be like knights of old—Catholic men grounded in their faith, family, and country—Michael Joseph McGivney was simple. He did nothing more than show them the way to their true home: not the Round Table, but the Church; the way to their true king: not Arthur, but Jesus Christ. [...]
For nearly two thousand years, the pilgrimage to the Holy Land has been the pinnacle of Christian religious experience and a byword for trust in divine providence. There is one place that captivates the pilgrim more than all the rest. Because in the most consequential of lands, it is the most consequential city this side [...]
The friar has come a long way from the young man he was when he entered. He is ready to promise everything forever. He is not capable of adding anything to Christ, but he offers the only thing he can: all of himself. Note: Nowadays, the young man who enters St. Joseph’s Province to be [...]
Christ likened himself to Jonah, but he also bears resemblance to the whale. Though whaling ships no longer set sail from New London or New Bedford, the whale still remains, plumbing the deep. Though sometimes Christ seems no longer known and honored in the world, he still remains: the king of the sea, the sea [...]
The human heart desires to sing. Enlivened by God, it seeks, at its most basic, to make a worthy return to the Lord in songs of praise and thanksgiving. Language can be beautiful. Order is peaceful and pleasing. The combination of the two—ordered language—gives man the stuff with which to fill his lungs. Down through [...]
Left to our own devices, we tend toward tragedy. Enter Jesus Christ. The Playwright himself has entered into his play, and he has come to take tragedy and completely transform it. In this act, he assumes all our tragic tendencies into his glorious and salvific Passion. The Lord’s tragedy turns our own tragedies into the [...]