The Silence of God
One of the most pressing questions people have, young students especially, has to do with the problem of evil. Why do bad things happen to good people? And, if God exists, how can he allow so much suffering and evil...
Tagged: Suffering
There Are None So Blind
A Homily for Laetare Sunday Many years ago, people would often ask me whether I thought this person or that person in the seminary was going to make a good priest and I would readily offer my opinion. I’ve since...
All You Holy Men and Women, Save Your People
Note: This essay was written in the weeks between the Minneapolis killings of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. It was crafted as a personal meditation from the perspective of three mothers – the author herself, Renee Good, and Mary,...
Five Lessons We Can Learn from St. Katharine Drexel
Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Katharine Drexel, the patron saint of racial justice and philanthropy. As we continue through this week focusing on the situation faced by immigrants in the United States, it is worth pausing to...
The Hidden Strength of Vulnerability
Note: This article was published in September of last year on Indian Catholic Matters. It is being shared again at this time in light of Pope Leo XIV’s recent message for the 34th World Day of the Sick. In 2022,...
The lamb and the Lamb
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. –Mt. 10, 29 To understand suffering, is to understand life. A radical statement – perhaps the more so,...
The Evolution of the Temple
Homily for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome In the first reading, Ezekiel has a vision of the temple of Jerusalem, where water was flowing from below the threshold toward the east, from the right...
The Ongoing Invisibility of Victims
Reading the news every morning is nothing short of chilling. Not only because of the sheer number of stories about violence or war around the world, but because the existential burden of the victims—their suffering, their despair, their muffled cries...
And deliver us from evil
Jean de Florette is my favorite film of all time. Two films really, with its powerful sequel Manon des Sources where Jean’s daughter seeks revenge on the villagers who drove the ‘outsider’ to his early death by depriving his farm...
A Week of Suffering and Resurrection for Latin America
Latin America lives out its Holy Week immersed in violence, tension, and hope. This is a mysterious time. In the depths of Latin American communities, Holy Week is a ritual and symbolic exercise where Catholic liturgy and popular tradition blend...
A Meditation on Christ’s Agony, Part II
For Part I, link here. My soul is sorrowful, even to death. To attribute Christ’s desolation to anticipatory fear before his betrayal, condemnation and crucifixion is profoundly inadequate (although St. John of the Cross teaches that the more spiritual an...
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...
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