Cyber espionage, as much as cyber imbecility, has been in the news frequently in recent years. Most recently was the revelation that the Vatican was hacked by the Chinese Government, which is yet another reason to argue that the whole…
Although I love all parts of the Church’s calendar, the Feasts of the month of August liturgically have always been a favorite for me. Especially granted the “dog days” of summer are nestled almost precisely in the annual midpoint between…
Henri Nouwen’s poetic image of the “wounded healer” has been falling out of fashion in recent times, especially as both Church and State desperately try to forget the real persons who, though flawed, were the boast of their particular eras.…
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in…
As the month of June begins, and the post-Pentecost festivals unfold, it’s hard for me not to see in the Church an abundance of supernatural vitality, and she revels in it in her Liturgy. We hold up the Sacred Heart…
For many devout Catholics who join together to pray the current Pentecost Novena, a popular theme is that of the Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit, as listed by Saint Paul: “…love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and…
I love ‘critical biographies’ of Saints. Hagiography as a literary genre tends to make facile and one-dimensional portraits of our Hallowed Heroes, but critical biographies put color, flesh and blood on the alabaster. One of my favorites is by Frederick…
G.K. Chesterton once famously said that the mind is to truth what the mouth is to food. We need to close them around something solid, and nourishing. Today on Holy Thursday, the Church in most of the world is experiencing…
Although the Epiphany Octave has been abolished for over fifty years in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, it seems as if the Ordinary Form can hardly do without it; the Divine Office and other liturgical texts constantly point…
After the Octave of Christmas and its attendant celebrations, it is sometimes easy to forget the subtle but powerful sense of expectation which is conveyed in the last days of Advent. The “days after Christmas” before the Epiphany seem rather…