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Category: Reflection

The Testament of Pope Francis

The preaching of St. Peter Julian Eymard on the Institution of the Eucharist has deeply left its mark on me. I have returned to one particular homily many, many times through the years, even copying it out in my own...

A Tale of Two Converts

On June 9, 1918, in a Denver chapel, thousands of people filed silently past the body of the first American Catholic laywoman ever granted the privilege of lying in state. This extraordinary woman was not a member of the city’s...

A  Moment of Remembrance

“I tried to shake him awake, but there was nothing. The child was stiff, blue, dark blue in color from the cold.” I read today in the New York Times of how Jumaa al-Batran, three weeks old, died of hypothermia overnight in his...

Christmas and the Philosophers

It is not easy to be an atheist during Christmas. Atheism demands seriousness: if God does not exist, one must be consistent. However, the experience of living without dependence on a Creator Being—a defining characteristic of atheism—often gives rise to...

The Crèche

Last night, as I was walking on the Green in my home city, I stopped by the crèche – nestled on the rough equivalent of half a parking space ceded by the city, installed (and funded) by my hometown multinational men’s...

The Golden Nights of the O Antiphons, Part II

 The first installment of this literary meditation was posted on Tuesday; this second installment deals thematically with art and beauty, and with their true power. The conclusion, with its promised light and joy, will follow soon. As was the case with...