Perfectionism vs Perfection
A Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as...
Tagged: Freedom
The Most Blessed Subjectivity of the Logos
A learned (and acerbic) Dominican professor under whom I studied told this story: An eminent Dominican scholar, easily identifiable by his fiery red hair, was in the habit of taking his daily walk past the Jesuit house. One day, one...
Censorship: A Case Study In Dialogue?
It seems like a dubious claim – censorship can teach us about dialogue? It is far too ironic to be true and, yet I would like to propose that it is. Over the past few weeks, I have been researching...
The Postliberalism We Actually Need
What is postliberalism? And why does it matter? The second question is easier to answer than the first. Up to the last couple of years, the distinctions and debates swirling among a handful of mostly Catholic or Catholic-influenced scholars and...
Our Duty and Our Salvation, Culpability and Grace
This is the last in a series of essays dealing with moral theology on which I have been working for some time. Other installments (the first of which is a preliminary of sorts, more devotional and specifically Marian than the...
Conscience without Grace Cannot Be Free
Sister Gabriela of the Incarnation OCD, herself a Where Peter Is contributor, emailed me earlier this year after reading my essay “Theology of Sexuality after Amoris and Fiducia,” pointing out that my analysis in that essay did not reach the...
The Task of the Sculptor
What does it mean to walk the path of Christ as a flawed person? We see over and over that God calls flawed humans to enact His word. What kind of perfection can God create with flawed servants such as...
“My grace is sufficient for you”
I get the sense from many Catholic preachers and pastors that they don’t understand human weakness. More than that, too often I have heard Catholic preachers downplay, or deny, the reality of mental illness, treating addiction as if it’s a...
Divine Mercy: The way of freedom
This is a reflection on the readings of April 11, 2021, the Second Sunday of Easter, the Sunday of Divine Mercy Who are the freest people in the world? If you are an American, your first thought might be that...
Masks Are Not a Symbol of Fear
Two recent viral videos that circulated on Twitter recently underscored just how divisive mask-wearing has become. The videos themselves might elicit embarrassment-by-proxy and certainly aren’t reflective of everyone who chooses not to wear a mask, but these videos are emblematic...
Out of the Garden
To live in the freedom of Christ is to live in hope, peace, and joy. Yet, during our earthly life, our Christian freedom is constantly in danger, through our own sinfulness, the temptations of the world, and our own human...
Pope Francis’ “Dangerous” View of Conscience
George Weigel complains that “voices have been heard urging a view of conscience that is curious, even dangerous.” What view of conscience could that be? Weigel describes it like this: Under certain circumstances, conscience may permit or even require that...
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