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 [...]
Gratitude—both gratitude to the human persons around us and the ultimate gratitude toward the personal God—brings to us a sense of order and peace, a grounding in truth that sets us free. Gratitude, by Dietrich von Hildebrand, Balduin V. Schwarz, Joseph Ratzinger, and Romano Guardini (135 pages, Hildebrand Project, 2023) The great spiritual teachers tell [...]
For most of us, Thanksgiving gives rise to some of the best memories of childhood, perhaps because the day is not complicated by the dramatic rituals and more profound emotions of other holidays. I think of my mother's America now, and I know that we have not lost it entirely, even in the divisions of [...]
None of the pieces in this collection are excerpts from David McCullough's many books. And none are culled from anything that might have been on its way to becoming an autobiography. They are simply essays, talks, and musings offered by David McCullough the writer, the student, the artist, and the reader. History Matters, by David [...]
In the end, we want D.B. Cooper's true identity to remain a mystery. We want him to continue to "get away with it"—such a brave, courteous, refined outlaw from a simpler era deserves better than to be caught by us postmoderns. On the evening of November 24, 1971—the day before Thanksgiving—a dark-haired man dressed in [...]
For nearly three hundred years, "The Shepherd of Hermas" gave instruction to the members and catechumens of the early Church. It taught them the Christian virtues and called for repentance. After being left out of the cannon of the New Testament, however, "Hermas" faded in popularity and use. So when “the Lord of the flocks [...]
We can encourage openness of expectation in ourselves and in one another, so that the mysterious gifts of experience, strange exhilarations and wonders, gifts from we know not where, will not be lost on us. A just expectation of life may include an expectation of moments that seem mysterious gifts from we know not where. [...]
One really misses something about William F. Buckley Jr. to not grasp that this man was a fighter. Not everyone blessed with logic lacks spirit. Monday marks the centenary of William F. Buckley Jr.’s birth. Those misled by recent mischaracterizations of the National Review co-founder might imagine a French fop’s harpsichord or Gavin MacCleod’s Love [...]
Depart from me, Lord. Depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Why have you come to me? Why have you called me? You know me. You’ve searched me . . . And so you already know there’s nothing that you will find in me. I have nothing to offer you. Only weakness. Weakness and [...]
Without any human help, it was my own desperate need to find God that enabled me to persevere in the Dark Night in which I found myself when first fervour left me flat. However, in case I give the impression that first fervour is of little consequence and can easily be bypassed, this is not [...]
We come now to a feast of Ends and Beginnings! This Sunday is the last Sunday in the cycle of the Christian year, which ends with the feast of Christ the King, and the following Sunday we begin our journey through time to eternity once more, with the first Sunday of Advent. We might expect [...]
As a literary scholar, C.S. Lewis’s principal concern in his "Reflections on the Psalms" is to vindicate the Psalms as poetry and, therefore, vehicles of beauty, delight, and even (as he boldly puts it) “mirth.” These are things which, Lewis says, modern humanity needs badly. One of the great constants in my life has been [...]
No matter how corrupt and bleak and depressing the world may appear, we can always turn to the many Cecilias of the world and see the goodness that is possible through grace and love. Properly remembered, these true symbols and true myths can re-orient our souls, our cultures, and perhaps even the world itself toward [...]
Heeding Shakespeare’s insistence that we need to heed the wisdom of the fool, it shocked me that a recent production of "King Lear" at a local Christian university had excised most of the key speeches of Poor Tom, which enunciate radical Christian wisdom, thus eviscerating Shakespeare's profound moral vision. For the wisdom of this world [...]