Luisa, one of the two young romantic leads in the musical stage play “The Fantasticks,” cries out in frustration in Act 1, “Please, God, please!
The small study group I am a member of has been focusing on G. K. Chesterton lately. We just completed the chapter “The Paradoxes of
I was randomly mulling over poetry recently and the words to the short poem My Garden by Thomas Edward Brown came to mind: A garden
As other CS writers have reminded us, here we are in Lent, once again. When I was young, giving up Cokes for Lent was the
C. S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters,” is succinctly summed up by Cliffsnotes: “By showing the devils’ tactics for corrupting human souls, the novel demonstrates how
My first memory that distinctly involves Advent is of an Advent calendar – a somewhat esoteric object in 1950s Kansas, if I recall correctly. I
There are more than a few different schools of thought about The Gift of Tears. Before I wade into that, let me be clear about
My weekly study group has been reading St. Theresa of Avila’s “The Interior Castle” for several weeks now. It’s a book that has been called
Much to everyone’s surprise – and my own as well – when it came time to pick a patron for my reception into the Roman
I have mentioned before that when I was very young, my imaginary friends were Baby Jesus and Crocodile (from Peter Pan). Baby Jesus was my
“If life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is cheerful, optimistic, positively oriented advice. When I’m feeling sour myself, though, it seems like naïve mockery. Of
The word dogma upsets some people. It does so because it appears to threaten the spirit of the age (which, of course, is a kind
“Remember, Oh man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” This phrase from the Ash Wednesday liturgy – the Consolatio – may
I just filed my income taxes. This always brings to mind the trap about taxes that the Pharisees tried to set for Jesus (Mark 12:13-17).
Every week I take an hour to sit in prayer before the Blessed Body of Christ in our parish Adoration Chapel. It is an exercise
“Abandon every hope, all you who enter! — The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Canto III, Line 9 (Mark Musa translation) Even people who have never
The study group I am a part of began a tour through Dante’s “Divine Comedy” this week. This tour has led me to think about
In the season of Advent we hear a lot about the power of “yes,” in particular in the “Magnificat,” the beautiful Song of Mary. But
“Never miss an opportunity to shut up” was a common saying in our region when I was growing up. The act of ‘shutting up’ was
Prudence is one of the four Cardinal Virtues first defined by Plato and refined by Aristotle. The ancient Greeks valued these virtues for secular as
I have written about all but one of the basic prayers over the last several months. In this article I cover the final type of
Thanksgiving is something we do. Gratitude is something we feel. This can be important to someone with a limited emotional range. It is useful when
