The key to understanding Thomas More’s generous dedication to the real but limited good he could do on earth is, as Frank Mitjans makes clear, that More’s constant contemplation of God was the source of his boundless care for the souls surrounding him. Thomas More’s Vocation, by Frank Mitjans (320 pages, The Catholic University of [...]
Every now and again, you meet someone you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Twenty-four years ago, I met Colin Welland, the Oscar-winning screenwriter for the now-classic film, Chariots of Fire. We were only together in Hollywood for a few days, but I feel as though I was given a lifetime of memories when [...]
What are the things that could be common to friends? What things can truly be held in common without having to be shared or meted out among friends? Welcome to the Class of 2013 and to your families.* To the rest of our college community, welcome back. Welcome, friends all! I came to a rather [...]
Your very hands, once folded peacefully beneath the earth, will once again be vigorously poised up high to the praise of God. And in that eternal moment of sharing God’s perfect victory, we can even enjoy a most glorious high five with our triumphant Savior, our Lord, and our friend. After straining your whole being [...]
Not only did Jesus manifest Himself as the Logos so long desired in the pagan West on that Friday afternoon, but He also manifested Himself as the Christ, the true and eternal king. In some mysterious way, it was the death on Friday that revealed all of this, not the resurrection on Sunday. As Jesus [...]
We are all brothers because of the love of God the Father for us. It turns out that brotherhood does not have to remain broken after sin. Jesus Christ, in showing us the love of the Father, reveals that true brotherhood is beatific. Brothers do not have a good record in the Bible. The book [...]
Friendship with Christ will only become perfect when we reach heaven where we will see him face to face. This life is a search for the face of God, since “now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am [...]
Just as the joy I have on account of the good of my friend depends on how much I love that friend, so too is that the case with the saints. To be closer friends with the saints, we must grow in our love for the saints, and then we will be able to share [...]
Love draws you up, but it does not sweep you off your feet. Not yet. Charity paradoxically manages to give you both heaven and earth. Jesus, Paul, and indeed all Christians, keep their sights high and their feet firmly planted. Saint Paul can catch you off guard. Just when you think you have a grip [...]
It is precisely because of our weakness that we need friends who will not encourage us in our folly but will have the courage to correct us. Love necessitates saying no to sin. We need friends who will not turn a blind eye to our blamefulness. True friends are not timid. They are not tame. [...]
The ultimate purpose of virtue is to make us capable of friendship, of sacrificing our own good for the good of another, thus nurturing that mutual happiness and trust with another self. We know good families, totally devoted to their children, who’ve been blind-sided by woke “identity politics,” confusing and hijacking their kids. In three [...]
Friendship is a receptive disposition of the soul which is ready to act for the good of the other when called upon, but which does not demand to be called upon. A man has to respect the freedom of his friend, or else a man will end up seeking out his own will to the [...]
Now goes under, and I watch it go under, the sun That will not rise again. Today has seen the setting, in your eyes cold and senseless as the sea, Of friendship better than bread, and of bright charity That lifts a man a little above the beasts that run. That this could be! That [...]
Have I actually had a true friend since those childhood days of simple and blissful friendship? My other friends have come and gone. As I reflect, I’m now not sure if I actually have a single real friend. The leaves rustle underneath my feet as I meander in the park. They are November’s leaves— brown, crunchy, and [...]