J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that he "ever loved that noble northern spirit," rooted in the myths and culture of Scandinavia, Germany and England, "and tried to present in its true light.” Indeed, he raised the noble north to the level of Athens and Rome, creating, in "The Lord of the Rings," an epic that stands alongside [...]
Any counsel to the stand out class of 2026 is rather simple: In the face of the wickedness of the times, stop, reflect and question. Have recourse to God and the Blessed Mother. One cannot be outstanding without grace, which makes up for shortcomings and leads to Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth [...]
John 17: 1-11 is one of the most mysterious, one of the most dazzling, passages in all of the New Testament. In it, we enter into the Sacred Heart, as into some vast cathedral where the soaring vaults carry both the thunder of the organ and the whisper of many prayers. It is hard to [...]
The Church owes a profound debt to Eusebius of Caesarea, for without him much of early Christian history and lore would have passed into oblivion, and we would be ignorant of a good deal of our early past. Most believers are probably unaware that the question of Jesus Christ’s divinity was once put up for [...]
There is only one power that can destroy this evil at its source within us, and that is the power of infinite love. When we do all in our power to invite infinite love into our hearts, we are doing the most important thing we can so that evil may be defeated and good may [...]
The essential error of the modernist theologians is that they have fallen for the myth of the noble savage. But both the noble savage and the urban savage are simplistic generalities: They express a truth and a lie at the same time. The Amazonian synod of 2019 in Rome revealed what might be called “The [...]
Men need an image, single, coloured and clear in outline, an image to be called up instantly in the imagination, when what is Catholic is to be distinguished from what claims to be Christian or even what in one sense is Christian. Now I can scarcely remember a time when the image of Our Lady [...]
Modernity and modernism, and all their fruits, are deeply opposed to the conservative vision. Conservatism seeks harmony, unity, justice, and dignity. Far from fragmenting life, it seeks to draw all together. As we wrestle with our present twenty-first century day—its successes and its foibles—we conservatives will throw around terms such as modernity, modernism, post-modernism, and [...]
What can our poor prayers—so broken like ourselves—do for if not echo constantly the very petition Jesus has made known to us? Nothing else will matter in eternity. John 17: 20-26 continues the priestly prayer of Jesus that we have been listening to throughout the week. Again, we hear its simple but sublime themes rehearsed: [...]
Christian schools must not follow their secular counterparts in their educational approach. They must surround their students with the noble, the beautiful, and the true in all areas of the curriculum and the academic environment, encouraging them to become like what they see. In the cultural wasteland of the ’70s, where peace and love had [...]
Most Christians, including Paul, would say the Resurrection is the basis of our entire faith, but without creation, there can be no Incarnation or Resurrection. If you were to randomly ask an average Christian, even one who does not routinely pray, pay, or obey, what is the greatest miracle of all, chances are that the answer [...]
When St. Peter was asked how to receive the outpouring of God’s love on the first Pentecost he answered, “repent,” just as Our Lady keeps asking us to keep repenting in prayer. For it is here alone that our acts of love enable us to receive God’s love in return. All good parents hope their [...]
Michel de la Tour D’Auvergne gave his horse to his servant. He watched the man take the two animals to the head of the bridge over the Grosne, and then with a sudden gesture of complete release he threw himself down on the river bank and gave himself up without reserve to the scene before [...]
This year, may we replenish the cistern that nurtures the principles of the Declaration: the vessel that is our recommitment to the Christian faith, the sharing of the Gospel, and the denunciation of the enemies of Truth... the vessel, that makes the United States the last, best hope for mankind. On July 5, 1926, Calvin [...]