The woman's life was meant to be lived at least on a human basis of justice. In the divine life of charity, she attains her fullest development, her fullest happiness; for here justice and love rule, not strength. On such a basis, she has open to her a life of fullest perfection, the kind of [...]
Josef Weiger is called, as are not many, to speak of Mary—to speak of her from the depths of his heart, knowing well her greatness to be unique. He is called to speak of her in that sober recollection of Christian Truth which, as St. Teresa demands, shall picture our Lady’s life only as it [...]
At the Annunciation, in a room in Nazareth, the fresh innocence of Eve is recapitulated, but in a new configuration. This is the nature of creation: that all things general, to become real, must become particular. It should therefore not come as a surprise that God Himself should also take particular flesh from a particular [...]
If you walk into the chapel at the Dominican House of Studies either before sunrise or after sunset, you’ll find yourself in a very, very dark space; and, if you’re a friar who is new to the house, you might also find yourself wondering how in the world you’re going to make it from the [...]
Before He was born as Christ the King on earth, He was “born” in the “mind” and “heart” of God as Christ the King in Heaven. He was firstly born in eternity before time began, so that the glory that reigned in Heaven could also reign on earth, in Him. However, if God’s Son was [...]
Do you know what it takes to build a shrine? It’s no simple task; a lot has to be done in order to turn a shrine into a reality. You have to choose the site and raise the money and draw up plans—plans tediously revised and approved. And once construction begins it can go on, [...]
From the Annunciation to the Presentation, from the Wedding at Cana to the upper room in Acts 1 and 2, the Mother of God’s life is undergirded and infused with humility. About a year before being received into the Catholic Church in 2004, the biggest obstacle to conversion for me, a Protestant, who had moved in [...]
Our Blessed Mother’s appearances and message at Tepeyac show God’s love and mercy as much to us today as she did almost 500 years ago. It is a loving appearance and message for which we all hunger and which can draw us all to the fount of life and grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. [...]
In Mary’s body, we see the total gift of God’s grace in raising and glorifying our lowly bodies to that “lofty goal” unattainable by our own efforts. All the evil which eats up our bodies—our diseases, discomforts, lusts, and addictions—will be trampled upon not by abandoning the body, but by glorifying it. As a child, [...]
Mary's example of humility guides us in strange times like ours, when the ancient sins have lost their shame. This month’s Wyoming School of Catholic Thought (June 12-17) took on a topic of universal importance: mortality and eternity. Our participants, who were deeply engaged in the week-long conversation, repeatedly wrestled with the primordial relation between [...]
All the immortal myths, sagas, and fairytales we locate in the world of make-believe are retold in the Bible. Likewise with our school's recent production of "The Sound of Music," whose Cinderella story of the pure maid who hears a call from God echoes unconsciously into their lives in a classical Catholic academy. The [...]
On March the 25th many churches across the world, Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican, keep the feast of the Annunciation, and though we can no longer keep the feast outwardly and visibly in our churches, I would like to keep it inwardly and spiritually here with you. The Annunciation, the visit of Gabriel to the blessed [...]
As the sun began to set on this incredible day, I looked up at the beautiful statue of Our Lady and asked her for the blessing that she promised to give to those who travel to England’s Nazareth. The Blessed Virgin invites us all to walk that trail, to trod in the footsteps of the [...]
The Mother of my Lord has never appeared to me and offered me a helmet of faith or a sword of unity, or divine or mundane origins. But, I have seen Mary many times, and, most likely, you have as well. Faith has always been a struggle for me. Indeed, throughout my forty-six years of [...]