The Paradoxical Jesus
In one scene from the iconic Pixar movie Cars, protagonist Lightning McQueen is being schooled by seasoned race car Doc Hudson. In this scene Doc tells him he needs to “turn right to go left.” Doc tells McQueen to drive...
Category: Spiritual Life
To Harbor Guide Me by Thy Mercy
Mira il tuo popolo, bella Signora, che pien di giubilo oggi ti onora; anch’io festevole, corro ai tuoi piè. O Santa Vergine, prega per me. I spent about half of May traveling in the Central Mediterranean, the part of the...
A subtle enemy of holiness
When I first read the Holy Father’s 2018 exhortation on holiness, Gaudete et Exsultate, I was deeply struck by his criticism of contemporary Pelagianism, one of two “subtle enemies of holiness” that he addresses. Pope Francis’s teaching challenged so much of...
Of White Meat and Baptismal Sponsors
Do you know what white meat is? Of course you do! It’s the edible flesh that comes from poultry. At least, that’s what it means in modern English. If you were to travel back to England the 1400s, however, “white...
How to Get What I Want
Recently, Michael Sean Winters published an article entitled “How will a synodal church embody the virtue of obedience?” He shows that the Paschal mystery is accomplished through the obedience of Jesus, and indeed, the Church itself exists in through the...
Only Sinners Need Apply
A state funeral is a most impressive ceremony. We saw this recently with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. A nation faces its own mortality in the death of a leader. The fragility of life is enfolded in the power...
“Everything Is Grace”
Two years ago, the Pew Research Center conducted a poll and found that barely 1/3 of self-described Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This realization that most of those who identify themselves as Catholics do...
The high bar of holiness
Recently, Dr. Larry Chapp wrote an article entitled “Rejecting the ‘low-bar Thomism’ of revisionist moral theologians.” Typically, I find that Dr. Chapp’s articles are insightful and well-written. This article is a follow-up to his recent reviews of the republication of...
To Obey or Not To Obey, That is the Question. Or Is It?
Back in January, I published an article on Where Peter Is about St. Maravillas of Jesus, a Spanish Discalced Carmelite Nun and Foundress who died in 1974 and who has had a noticeable impact on a number of Carmelite monasteries...
Panning for God
Panning for gold “is slow, backbreaking work.”[i] The panner stands knee-deep in cold, running water, scooping up the deposit at the bottom of the stream and slowly swirling it in his pan. The heavier rocky material, such as gold, remains...
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