It isn’t good for man to be alone. So is it good for man to be entertained alone? In the past century, the West has witnessed the proliferation of entertainment technology. Many readers of this article will have consumed some of it w … [Read more...]
Five Tips for Graduate School
During my first semester of graduate school in theology, the required class on the Trinity nearly “ate my lunch”. To put it simply, I could never study enough to understand the subject more, nor could I seem to improve my papers enough to el … [Read more...]
The Words Men Need to Hear
A Priest Speaks to College Seminarians
Speak only the words men need to hear, the things that really help them . . . (Ephesians 4:29) Introduction The effects of language—for good or ill—first occurred to me when I was five, during the summer before kindergarten. As my broth … [Read more...]
Liturgy as an Act of Leisure
Perspectives from Guardini, Pieper, and Ratzinger
We frequently hear that the liturgy is the “source and summit” of the Christian life, a quote from the Vatican II document, Lumen gentium. We often do not get the whole context for this small part of the quote. In a slightly different tran … [Read more...]
The Slant of Glory
“Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Glory be to the Father…” (Ps 126:1) (Introit from the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.) In America, the gravity of major weekend games, … [Read more...]
God’s Beauty Evokes Our Joy
God’s manifestation of his beauty/glory is both a grace, expressing his self-giving generosity, and a call to his joy. Beauty, a relational aspect of created or uncreated excellence, is always the self-manifestation or communication of e … [Read more...]
Checking the Calendar
(The Ephiphany) celebrates the end of man’s being held captive by the natural elements. We are not fated but free. None of us is pre-determined, but now made children of God by the humanity of his only divine Son. God the Father (righ … [Read more...]
Thinking as a Christian with Josef Pieper
In an age when society is again becoming highly polarized, it is important to remember that the lack of real communication causes a breakdown in civility, and an increase in ignorance. During his long lifetime, Josef Pieper (1904-1997) … [Read more...]
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