Early in the morning deer appearout of the dark, a flicker of eyes.They allow me to get quite near, then vanish noiseless in the brush—like stars over a busy city—like lines that come in midnight’s hush and are gone at dawn—like a whirlwind that scoopsup trash from a parking lot, . . . . Continue Reading »
In the ruins of Ostia Antica, where Roman roads have disintegrated into a tangle of worn stones and earth, past market stalls where tall grasses jut from meticulously laid mosaic floors, one can find about three dozen stone basins in which bakers once placed bread dough to rise. This is one of . . . . Continue Reading »
Fiddling with translations of the Lord's Prayer is an accommodation with secular culture. Continue Reading »
We’re called to love all people according to their station. That goes for the pope, whoever he may be and whatever he may do. Continue Reading »
The prayer to St. Michael the Archangel is a reminder of the existence of the devil and the presence of true evil in the world. Continue Reading »
Christian liturgy—and God himself—have become victims of the abolition of the pre-political. Continue Reading »
It is early still, and dark. Next to me my sister sleeps, but I wake with the sound of my father preparing for work. He is soft, so as not to disturb my mother. The window stirs, a ripple of white on the room. Then—there’s light on my eyes, morning light, and the sound of my father’s . . . . Continue Reading »
I have a problem with hell that goes beyond squeamishness. The problem is one of inserting the damned into God’s endgame, his final fix—creation brought to its triumphant completion. Doesn’t the presence of everlasting torment put a damper on the success story? I went to Aquinas for . . . . Continue Reading »
At the outset of Moby Dick, Father Mapple preaches to a congregation of whalers. His text is the Book of Jonah, and it stands out as one of the most enjoyable fictional sermons of all time. After God has assigned him the task of preaching repentance to the city of Nineveh, Jonah flees “with . . . . Continue Reading »
Will believers be freer to be believers under Trump than they have been for the past twenty-five years? Continue Reading »
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