Thursday, April 14, 2016077The name Ronald Knox is probably unknown to most American Catholics, and that is a great shame. Hailing from a prominent Anglican family of clerics in England, he was one of the most famous Catholic converts of the 20th century.
Wednesday, March 23, 20160251Someone you know, whether your spouse, a pouty child, or a friend, will soon complain about the interminably long liturgies they will be subjected to this coming Holy Week. Instead of the usual icy glare or a fed-up “because I’m your parent and God expects you there” approach, you might ask them to ponder why it is that the church...
On Jan. 25 of each year, the church celebrates perhaps the greatest conversion in her history: that of Saint Paul. His dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus, narrated three times by Luke in Acts of the Apostles (chapters 9, 22, and 26), marks a pivotal turn in the young Church’s life. Paul reveals in several of his letters that he...
Sunday, December 20, 20150221When St. Augustine wrote that “whoever sings prays twice,” he was mindful of the essential role music has always played in the life of the church. (The quote is actually “Whoever sings well prays twice,” but with the Year of Mercy underway, ‘tis the season to pardon the vocally challenged among us!) The psalms, which at their...
Friday, October 16, 2015081A certain hesitation grips me whenever an elderly person asks me, a young priest, for advice, whether spiritual or practical. My usual response is to remind him or her that I have no well of personal experience to draw from, and thus my counsel is little more than a priestly whippersnapper’s detached musings on the matter of aging.
St. Paul’s continued relevance for our contemporary culture is evident in a beautiful passage devoted to an understanding of sports as an image for the life of faith: “Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way....Columnists
One theme in the Bible is the social character of sin. Sin is a reality that affects the people of God as a people; that is, it is something that emerges inside the human heart but that ultimately extends far beyond — it is both in our hearts and “out there” in our customs and institutions as a people. We shape each other and our...
Thursday, February 19, 20150337We know well enough that we are dust. Limitations, frailty, failures, and mortality all define our being human. This awareness, of course, is not convenient, especially when the alternative is so alluring: who wouldn’t want to “have it your way” and eat, drink, be merry, do what feels good, and avoid the depressing reality that you...
At the beginning of this new column, entitled “A Word to Enkindle,” I felt inspired to ponder our Christian interpretation of “the beginning” and “word.” The first words of Scripture assert the Lord’s domain over absolutely everything: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The...Uncategorized
COLUMNISTS
Father Timothy Gollob
Remembering the blessings in our lives
Father John Bayer, O.Cist
Word to Enkindle: Economy and Life
Father Thomas Esposito, O.Cist
The cross, our wisdom and our tree of life
Executive Editor David Sedeño
'Maybe faith, hope and charity should be resolutions in 2016'
Guest...
