Advent is not a season of penance, but of preparation. Advent prepares us for the two comings of Christ, that is, the Incarnation and the Eschaton. However, amid the garlands and the gifts, we all know how easy it is to become wrapped up in … [Read more...]
The Words Men Need to Hear
A Priest Speaks to College Seminarians
September 18, 2018 by Fr. Timothy Shea Valentine
Speak only the words men need to hear, the things that really help them . . . (Ephesians 4:29) Introduction The effects of language—for good or ill—first occurred to me when I was five, during the summer before kindergarten. As my broth … [Read more...]
Fallen from Our First Love
September 2, 2018 by Matthew Malicki
“Could you not watch with Me for one hour?… Keep watch and pray” (Matthew 26:40-41) There are many sources of evil plaguing our society. However, we as a Church must be reinvigorated by the consoling certainty of God’s Word, especially wh … [Read more...]
Early Summer Book Reviews
June 1, 2018 by Book Reviews
Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?: Questions and Answers about the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. By Carl E. Olson. (Ignatius Press, 2016), 199 pages. Reviewed by Matthew B. Rose The Walls Are Talking: Former Abortion … [Read more...]
Drawing Others to Celebrate God’s Mercy Through Storytelling
August 18, 2017 by Stephanie H. To
“Read me just one more story!” Maggie lay snuggled beneath the pink floral quilt, her brown eyes imploring me to continue reading from the big book of fairy tales. “You should be asleep already,” I replied. I gave a half-hearted sigh, tur … [Read more...]
Sacraments in Brideshead Revisited
June 12, 2017 by Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski, O.P.
Years ago, a priest told me that he considered that the best thing ever written about the sacrament of anointing of the sick was Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited. Although not a theological treatise, the book contains an a … [Read more...]
The End of Time
December 20, 2016 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
This is our humanity: Not to know who we are or what we will become.—David Horowitz, The End of Time, 2005.[1. David Horowitz, The End of Time (San Francisco” Encounter Books 2005), 19.] Therefore, despite the fact that the Christian’s at … [Read more...]
Thoughts on Christmas Eve
December 20, 2016 by David Barton
There He is, the Savior of the world Lying helplessly in a manger Warmed by the hot breath of beasts, Sobbing as the winter wind Blows across His beautiful face… Uncaring people lock Him out Of Bethlehem homes and inns, Forcing Him t … [Read more...]
George Herbert as Advent Exemplar
December 1, 2016 by Richard J. Janet, PhD
As both a liturgical season and a spiritual practice, Advent invites us to consider serious questions about our Christian beliefs, and our fundamental being. Advent teaches us how to ready ourselves for whatever lies ahead in our lives; for … [Read more...]
On Reconstructing Mankind
September 27, 2016 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
Managed evolution…is a two pronged attack on human suffering. The first prong is positive, namely the fabrication of ever more perfect humans. The second is negative, requiring the elimination of all defectives, beginning with the smallest n … [Read more...]
Reflections on Reminders in our Lives
September 13, 2016 by David B. Wester
There’s an old joke about the definition of a college professor: “Oh, that would be someone who can’t say anything just once.” Having spent 35 years at the front of classrooms at two universities, I can attest to the aptness of the descrip … [Read more...]
Early Fall Reading
September 13, 2016 by Book Reviews
The Beach Teacher Scriptural Lessons from the Shore, Alexander J. Basile, (St. Pauls, 2015) 103 pages; $8.95. ISBN978-0-8189-1383-9. Reviewed by Eileen T. Warner M.A.P.M. My Brother’s Keeper — A Novel about the Family of Jesus. B. Kas … [Read more...]
Summer Poetry
But Then I Met Jesus By David Barton I sought pleasure, but pleasure didn’t satisfy. I courted riches and they impoverished me, Fame and it degraded me, Power and it corrupted me. I gave myself to charitable causes, But, despite t … [Read more...]
“Why Do I Exist?”: The Unavoidable Wonderment
July 27, 2015 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
(Socrates) “Could anything great really come to pass in a short time? And isn’t the time from childhood to old age short when compared to the whole of time?” (Glaucon) “It is a mere nothing.” (Socrates) “Well, do you think that an immortal b … [Read more...]
“Go Gaily in the Dark”
Alfred the Great and Preservation of Christian Civilization
July 12, 2015 by Dr. William C. Zehringer, PhD
Epigraph From G.K. Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse (words spoken by Mary, the Mother of God, to a sadly dispirited Alfred the Great): The men of the East may spell the stars, And times and triumphs mark. But the men signed o … [Read more...]
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