Time is not a being, a thing, or a substance in the world, nor does it operate as a power, a force, or a destiny in our life. It has no external existence; the word “time” is used by a sort of obtuse poetry for processes that have better names of their own. Here is [...]
A school offering a good and true education will answer the question “What is truth?” in the words that Christ gave to His disciples when He told them that He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” An education that sidelines Christ or ignores Him, or which treats Christianity as only one of several [...]
Economics is one of the necessary tools that call forth the creativity and cooperation in us—aspects of our being made in the image of God. The science of the economic sphere is most interesting to the imaginative conservative when its methods and truths are applied not as ends in themselves, but as means toward the [...]
God has put in our hearts a yearning for eternity, but, as long as we live in this world, we must modify our desires to its changes, its vanities, its impermanence. Fear the Lord and obey his commandments, and you will have fulfilled your duty. Author’s Introduction: Imagine if Homer, Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, and the [...]
Christianity and the Western tradition insist that true unity is rooted in complimentarity, self-gift, and ordered relationship. Trinitarian love is creative, but not coercive; it is a mystery, but it is not irrational; it is personal, but it is not subjective. These are essential truths that James Schall returned to again and again in his [...]
Lady Wisdom stands on the rooftop and cries out to all who will listen, to all who have ears to hear. She offers prudence to those who lack judgment and understanding to those who lack discernment. And be assured that if you choose Wisdom you choose Hope, Joy, and Life as well. Author’s Introduction: Imagine [...]
Love is for persons, not for qualities or ideas, except only derivatively, that is, insofar as the latter exist in the former. To insist that love is love for this person is not an appeal to settle for someone with less than stellar qualifications—for “settling” is itself the attitude of the consumer who prudently resigns himself [...]
My friends, excess of love can be just as cruel and volatile as excess of hate. It knows neither limits nor boundaries. It can find no resting place, no stopping point, but presses ever on until it exhausts itself in a fit of rage. Beware of such heightened passions; do not let love be a [...]
Alas, we can’t un-invent digital technology. Pandora’s box can’t be closed once it’s opened. The 20th century gave rise to no end of technologies that mankind has come to acknowledge as absolutely evil and yet that we can’t eradicate completely. For those brave and willing few, however, I urge you to join me in taking [...]
Unprecedented in history is the development of the adolescent—a period of life in which one is isolated from childhood and maturity. Child-rearing practices vary from culture to culture, and many Americans are shocked to discover that the most turbulent period of their lives was a cultural phenomenon. The confusion, rebellion, and search for identity that [...]
Those who address graduates usually speak about the struggle to obtain success in life. Graduates are told that they must now face the difficult challenges that await them. They should accept no limits in their quest to change the world. Armed with their new skills, they can now face whatever life can throw at them. [...]
As this year’s seniors take their last exams and prepare to walk across the stage on Saturday morning, I’m led to think about the effect of this whole unique education at Wyoming Catholic College on them. How will it all come together—all the theology and philosophy, the literature and history, the Latin, music, and fine [...]
Citizens of the twenty-first century, learn from us to respect and honor your traditions. You seem so fascinated with novel, untried ideas that you often overlook the wisdom of the past. If we forget that legacy, we cease to be who we are. Author’s Introduction: Imagine if Homer, Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, and the other great [...]
The good mentor is virtually inseparable from the phenomenon of initiation that has always been understood as a crucial part of the rite of passage between one condition in life to another, a new and deeper community. In an age where mentors and rites of passage are being neglected, we should not forget the fundamental [...]