In this world darkened by the gloom of the seriously self-righteous, what is needed more than ever is the rumbustious, rollicking good humor of men and women who have seen the eternal perspective and have therefore put this world in its proper place. Before his sudden fall from the limelight last week, an interestingly entertaining [...]
By an act of almsgiving, we remedy an unjust distribution of the gift of the whole earth; we remedy, for our neighbor, what disobedience to God’s plan has wrought. Almsgiving is fitting for the forgiveness of sin because it uses money, the very tool enabling unjust distribution, for the sake of just distribution. Usually I [...]
The current practice of the Roman Church reflects that Lent is both penitential and baptismal. The penitential themes are predominant during the first two weeks. The baptismal elements are emphasized in a three-week Lenten period. The final two weeks are dominated by preparation for the celebration of the passion. At first glance, the season of [...]
The psalms offer themselves as a constant companion through life, anticipating and giving voice to every spiritual concern we may have. They contain a world of thought and feeling, imagery and lyricism. And they supply the profoundest substance to all those of us who need material for our prayer or who don’t always pray as [...]
Here in the midst of Lent, let us learn from St. Patrick and take up our own crosses—especially those imposed upon us by circumstance—and follow the Good Shepherd. Let us draw near to Calvary, never shirking our burdens but always looking to Christ for aid. May we, through the intercession of St. Patrick, become true [...]
The hardest part of Lent is the consistency. It takes what the Desert Fathers, those famous old monks of the Egyptian desert starting around the third century, liked to call “discernment” or “discretion.” In a modern Catholic context, “discernment” often means determining whether God wants you to be a priest, a deacon, or a religious. [...]
In the eyes of the world, the greatest acts of men are considered in terms of power. Yet, in the eyes of God who took on our infirmities, man’s greatest act is his last. Abandoning himself in his weakness, the soul must cling to Christ in an act of love, for this last act in [...]
Do not be afraid to pick up your cross and follow Jesus, because suffering becomes redemptive when we are intimately united to him. The battle is half-won if you have an able companion, and Jesus is with us the entire way. And we have this pledge, the hope given to us on the mountain of [...]
“The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass," St. Cyril warned. "Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.” Lent is not an occasion to pass the dragon, but to prepare for the confrontation. In the first [...]
T.S. Eliot’s “Ash-Wednesday,” a monumental work—the Purgatorio between the Inferno of “The Waste-land” and the Paradiso of the “Four Quartets”—has always been, as long as I can remember in my adult life, a comfort and a mystery to me. I assume it remained as such even to the Great Bard of the Twentieth Century himself. [...]
Holy Week is a week of paradoxes: the greatest evil and the greatest good occupy the same deed, the same space on the Cross, the same tomb. At Wyoming Catholic College, the phenomenon known elsewhere as “spring break,” which sounds more or less restful, comprises an important part of our outdoor curriculum. Most students go [...]
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 [...]
Like the Israelites, we are to look upon the One who has been lifted up so that we will be healed. We who are plagued by impatience are to look on the truly Patient One as he undergoes his Passion. This past Sunday we entered into the two-week period traditionally known as Passiontide. As we [...]
Ash Wednesday Receive this cross of ash upon your brow, Brought from the burning of Palm Sunday’s cross. The forests of the world are burning now And you make late repentance for the loss. But all the trees of God would clap their hands The very stones themselves would shout and sing If you could [...]