Which way is heaven? For those of us who are keen to get there, this is an important question; indeed, a crucial one. Do we look up at the twinkling stars, wondering what they are in childlike contemplation? Is this assent to the innocence of wonder the ascent to heaven, or the necessary prerequisite [...]
Even though it is not easy, and often impossible, to make our enemies our friends, it is nonetheless true that there is no other way of making our enemies our friends except by loving them. Any honest soul in genuine pursuit of the truth is a friend of mine. Three unsolicited e-mails, received in [...]
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas two of my great loves sent to me a couple of great meditations on the mystery of the Nativity. The first and better-known meditation is by T.S. Eliot, whose “Journey of the Magi” places the poet in the entourage of the Three Wise Men as they journey to [...]
The end of the world is nigh. It is this ultimate reality which should animate and motivate us. The devil might be able to hang us before he hangs himself, but he can’t deprive us of the resurrection which will separate us from his clutches forever. As the old year ends and the new [...]
As we begin this covidious New Year, we should ponder certain questions with great care: Is “staying safe” really so important that we embrace slavery? If it is really a choice between safety or serfdom, which should we choose? Generally speaking, I have avoided commenting publicly on the current pandemic and the political and cultural [...]
Our destiny is not ultimate non-existence via the grave but an everlasting existence beyond the grave. The birth of Christ is the death of Death. The Incarnation was at the centre of history and was also its end. This is the Good News of the Gospel that we celebrate at Christmas. There are three [...]
Having passed away recently, Lewis scholar Walter Hooper will be missed, but we can well believe that he is now once more with C.S. Lewis, whom he had served most faithfully for so many years, in a place in which it is never winter but always Christmas. With the passing of Walter Hooper on [...]
As the global elites and their socialist dupes endeavor to envelop us in a world dominated by the unholy alliance of Big Government and Big Business, I am dreaming of a hobbit-sized Christmas, just like the ones we used to know, or, in any event, just like the ones our forefathers knew. Nor is [...]
The unequal clash between Big Power and the little man sounds daunting, but empires come and go. Goliaths are slain. Or more often they kill themselves through their own inherent unsustainability. All that we need to do is resist evil by living virtuously. This last election has been about Goliath versus the People, and [...]
In his tragedy “Othello,” Shakespeare censures the age in which King James I renewed the persecution of Catholics in England, with a tale of darkness, told with the doom-laden and crushing weight of the playwright’s own heavy heart. Othello is the first of a triumvirate of tragedies written by Shakespeare during a particularly dark [...]
“Times Square and Other Stories” by William Baer, a man and writer who is truly alive in the presence of the past, is storytelling at its best, both compelling and contemplative. Those who take up this volume will be changed for the better by the reading of it. Times Square and Other Stories, by [...]
Attempts by the secular state to curtail or crush religious liberty are nothing new. More than four hundred years ago, during the reign of Elizabeth I in England, it was a crime punishable by death to be a Catholic priest and a crime punishable by death to hide a priest from the government’s priest-hunters. The [...]
There is no real difference between conservative and liberal imperialism in terms of the pride which animates it and the presumption which expects primitive cultures “to submit without protest” to those who are their “enlightened” betters. It’s not about right and left but about right and wrong—and imperialism, in whatever political guise, is wrong. [...]
Apart from his literary influence, John Henry Newman’s stature as a theologian is inestimable and his contribution to the fields of philosophy and history are not inconsiderable. And, above all, he was a man whose holiness has touched millions. It is for this reason that he was canonized and it is for this reason, [...]