Woe and Praise

I recently met a young person who told me, “You’re the first person I’ve met who is my age and actually believes in God.” With the growing number of “nones”—those who identify as having no religious beliefs—many Christians worry that … Continue reading

Who is Jesus After All?

“All men by nature desire to know.” Aristotle’s opening line of the Metaphysics was true of humans then and is true of humans now. Children still explore the front lawn on summer mornings, asking eternally: “What’s that?” But what about … Continue reading

The A-Word

Here we are, deep into the season of Easter: 50 days of Sunday, a whole week of weeks to live and rejoice in the Resurrection. There are a great number of ways you might observe Easter (especially as you move … Continue reading

Aletheia

The veil has been torn asunder; the tomb has been opened; the wounds have been revealed. Easter time is about manifestation. Things are being uncovered, and truth abounds. We hear that Christ, after his Resurrection, comes to proclaim his triumph … Continue reading

A Vision of Fiery Chariots

“Why?” It’s a common enough question, even from a very young age. We tend to ask the question differently as time goes on, though: “Daddy, why is that squirrel’s belly white?” becomes “Why didn’t my son come home from Iraq?” … Continue reading

“Well, actually, Jesus…”

Often when I read Scripture, I find myself thinking about my friend Jacob. The reason is not that I see Jacob reflected in the sacred page: I don’t see his silhouette masked behind Psalmist’s righteous man, or hear echoes of … Continue reading

The First Revelation

Cheese samples in a grocery store bear the sticker, “Try me!” The Nightmare Before Christmas effortlessly entices a certain fondness of itself in its soundtrack, characters, and quirky story. The Brothers Karamazov is the sort of novel that so totally … Continue reading

Opening the Book of Revelation (Part I)

Editor’s note: This post, originally published on November 28, 2011, is the first in a series on the Book of Revelation. You can read the whole series here. Fr. Leo Checkai was ordained a priest in May 2014 and now … Continue reading

Religion is Not Race

There is a troubling tendency in our public discourse to reduce religion to race or ethnicity (the complex case of Judaism aside). On this view, religion is a more or less superficial feature of one’s identity—something akin to skin color … Continue reading