The first Jews used the symbol of unquenchable fire to depict the all-consuming power of God’s love. The first Christians, however, believed that this love was now embodied in the Risen and glorified body of Jesus, as he rose from the dead on the first Easter day, and they used the radio-active energy of the [...]
There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told. Men die nightly in their beds, wringing the hands of ghostly confessors, and looking them piteously in the eyes—die with despair of heart and convulsion of throat, on account of the hideousness of mysteries which will not suffer themselves to be revealed. Now [...]
Those who turn the pages of Philip C. Kolin's book of poetry, "Evangeliaries," will be going on a pilgrimage of grace. It is necessary, therefore, to slow down. Poetry, especially poetry this suffused with God’s abundant presence, must not be rushed. It must be savoured in silence. I have recently received a copy of Evangeliaries: Poems [...]
Rifles and Rosary Beads You hold on to what you need Vicodin, morphine dreams Rifles and Rosary Beads Yellow smoke orange haze Blowin' into my eyes Whistling sunset bombs I couldn't trust the sky Rifles and Rosary Beads You hold on to what you need Vicodin, morphine dreams Rifles, Rosary Beads White knuckles wrapped around [...]
Daniel Fitzpatrick's book "Restoring the Lord’s Day" is, in essence, a diagnosis of the ills of modernity viewed from the aspect of the Sabbath. Lost today are the grandeur and the normative and unitive force of the Sabbath, the center of the life of the individual, the family, and the community. Restoring the Lord’s Day: [...]
By and large the educated elites in the Western world today are without religious belief and often animated by a “culture of repudiation,” keen to banish old ideas of the sacred from public life and to remake the institutions and structures of civil society so as to reflect their own liberated lifestyle. In America and [...]
There is one aspect of the immigration debate that most liberals do not like to discuss. Recognizing a right for anyone to flee misfortune, liberals invite them to pour over the border, which most do illegally. However, they refuse to look at the reasons behind the growing migrant stream and seek to stop it. Dealing [...]
Malachy G. Carroll might have had only one novel in him, and he might have only one novel to his largely unknown name, but it’s a minor classic that every Catholic should read. It's 1952, and John Wayne’s latest film, The Quiet Man, is a huge hit at the box office. It is about a [...]
Allen Guelzo might very well have had the current state of affairs in his country in mind when he set out to offer this rumination on Abraham Lincoln. It would be hard, if not impossible, to imagine otherwise. Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment, by Allen C. Guelzo (247 pages, Knopf, 2024) [...]
The rich soil of faith, family, and friends is where community is formed, where relationships flourish, where roots go down that nourish us. This is where those of us who are rooted in Christ seek to walk out our faith in tangible deeds of sacrifice, loyalty and love, in relationship with people whose names we [...]
Some people frolic in the European Middle Age, whereas most people hearing that designation think hair loss and weight gain. And that is too bad, because there and then resided Geoffrey Chaucer, the second greatest poet in English. If only the selective reading public knew better, they would be dazzled by his masterwork, The Book [...]
The best moral formation often comes from music. It was my first year singing in our Dominican Schola and I was learning the intricate beauty of polyphony. A more seasoned brother leaned over and let me know that I’d really “internalized the tempo.” “Great!” I thought to myself, “I’m getting the hang of this.” My face must [...]
Jimmy Carter was a nice, good man who epitomized American Christianity’s reduction to Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism. As such, the singing of John Lennon's atheistic "Imagine"—Carter's favorite song—at the former president's funeral was entirely appropriate. Last week at former president Jimmy Carter’s funeral, country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sang ex-Beatle John Lennon’s song Imagine, [...]
It is unclear which was lost first, the cosmos or God. With hindsight it appears they came as a package, lose one and you lose the other. People still speak of the cosmos, but they either do not know what they are talking about or they mean something very different than what people used to [...]