God is a person, not just an idea. When he raises up saints, he does so not to have an ideologue to debate the doubters, but in order to have someone to carry on the work of Christ, who not only preached, but was a living example of what he preached. God raised up Saint [...]
What is the most important thing in your life? What would you do if God asked you to give it up? For some it might mean surrendering a talent: a beautiful voice or the world’s most accurate free-throw. For others it might be a loved one. For still others it might be their freedom. Imagine [...]
Baseball is beautiful, fun, and enjoyable. It can also help us learn how to enter into the present moment. Of course, one does not have to be a fan of baseball to enjoy life truly. But loving a sport such as baseball can help us to appreciate life as it comes to us in the present [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Marriage entails a total gift of oneself to another. This gift then forms the basis for what is truly the greatest human friendship possible, and, in turn, even comes to signify in a mysterious way that highest of all loves, the divine love shared between Christ and his Church. “Love desires immortality… mortal nature seeks [...]
The ordinary times of our lives are not simply ordinary. The Christian tradition has always shown that every time is touched by Christ. As Christians, we offer our time back to Christ as spiritual worship. The ordinariness of Ordinary Time is setting in—not just liturgically, but even culturally. The wreaths are gone, the crèches are [...]
Let us be strengthened in our faith in Jesus, and call on him, abiding in the peace of his presence and trusting in his holy will. We do not “bother” Christ by asking for help, regardless of how far off the impending storm seems to be. The infant Jesus sleeping in the manger is the same [...]
When observing beautiful art or music, how do we feel? Comfort, joy, and even euphoria come to us. We are drawn in by the otherworldly-ness of it all. But what about stark or disturbing art? A Flannery O’Connor character’s gory end shocks us. The tragic eyes of Francisco Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son unsettle us. [...]
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 [...]
Earlier this summer, I was walking in our backyard, and I saw one of the brothers picking up cicadas from the sidewalk and putting them back on the trees they had fallen off, and it struck me that cicadas were a good image for the spiritual life. If King David can write in the Psalms [...]
The virtuous soldier is prudent in military matters, possessing a love for the homeland. The one who serves virtuously does so with perseverance and honesty. A soldier who takes virtue to heart is not only a valiant servant to the nation. The virtuous soldier is also a faithful servant of God. Today’s celebration of Veterans [...]