Several years ago, when I was in Europe leading a pilgrimage tour to England with Joseph Pearce, I learned that the Shroud of Turin was to be on display for veneration in Turin. After the pilgrimage in England I made my way to Italy where I was joined by a friend. After a few days [...]
For those doing all right by themselves like Flannery O’Connor’s Misfit, Christ’s Resurrection from the dead throws everything off balance because it introduces something entirely new. To believe the testimony of the Gospels opens avenues to happiness that are entirely discomfiting to the complacency of mere identity. Flannery O’Connor had a way of compressing whole [...]
"The Lord of the Rings" is not an allegorical story, nor should it be treated as such, but that does not mean that the story cannot be used to contemplate and plumb the depths of humanity and its relation to the divine. That J.R.R. Tolkien had a great dislike for his works being called “allegories” [...]
He saw her from the bottom of the stairs Before she saw him. She was starting down, Looking back over her shoulder at some fear. She took a doubtful step and then undid it To raise herself and look again. He spoke Advancing toward her: ‘What is it you see From up there always—for I [...]
If the stars fell; night’s nameless dreams Of bliss and blasphemy came true, If skies were green and snow were gold, And you loved me as I love you; […]
Author's Note: This essay is dedicated to the memory of Barbara J. Elliott, my friend and colleague at Houston Christian University. Her academic and spiritual mentorship of my daughter Anastasia led, in part, to her decision to, like Barbara and Peter Kreeft before her, cross the Tiber to Rome. The Mirror, the Mask & the [...]
We can thank God for Joe “X.J.” Kennedy and his love of the sound of words and the delight of putting them together. And you and I can keep giving his collections to young children in whom we hope to instill that same delight. For years, our go-to gift for new babies and young children [...]
Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. —from [...]
It is not often that I find myself quibbling with the great philosopher, Peter Kreeft. On the contrary, it is usually best to do with Dr. Kreeft what T.S. Eliot did with Dante. “I have just finished an article on Dante," Eliot wrote in 1920, "and I feel that anything I can say about such [...]
James Matthew Wilson judges American poet John Martin Finlay “practically the only contemporary writer to practice a genuinely metaphysical poetics.” A sinner and a man of imperfect ear, trite phrasing, and occasionally wayward philosophical judgment, Finlay was nevertheless a man whose pursuit of God who is Truth and Love demands our admiration. The Wayward Thomist: [...]
Robert Hugh Benson's "Initiation" is a novel which delves and dives deep into the mystery of suffering. Its theme, and the reader’s following of the purgatorial steps of the “initiation,” is perfect for those seeking to take the purgatorial steps on the Lenten pilgrimage to Golgotha. The literary reputation of Robert Hugh Benson, one of [...]
David Angten’s "The Medievalist" takes us into the grubby underbelly of Tinseltown, but there is a morality woven through the story that is convincing. A gripping, thought-provoking, entertaining, and fun novel, I hope it will not be classified as “Catholic fiction.” It's too good for that. Having somewhat of a public platform in these pages [...]
In “Ash Wednesday,” T.S. Eliot repudiated his ironic style along with his despairing and nihilistic view of the world. When he wrote it, he was turning from the hell of the wasteland of unbelief to receive his ashes and begin his long Lent. T.S. Eliot’s secret baptism in 1927 marked one of the most remarkable [...]
Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope Because I do not hope to turn Desiring this man’s gift and that man’s scope I no longer strive to strive towards such things (Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?) Why should I mourn The vanished power of the usual [...]