Dying Daily Throughout my novitiate, I heard many priests say that as religious we must be willing to die for Christ every day for our salvation and the salvation of others. That can sound strange at first, but when we … Continue reading
Author Archives: dbrindle
A Warrior’s Fall
He fought the battles no one else would fight Till, bitter, he fought foes already dead Estranged, he fought his fellows by his might And died but slaying foes within his head. ***** To fight for a just cause is … Continue reading
La Noche de La Caridad
Something beautiful will happen in Buenos Aires tonight. At around 6 p.m. a group of people will begin to congregate at the convent of St. Dominic in San Telmo, one of the city’s older barrios. There they’ll begin to prepare … Continue reading
Lecherous Stump
Lecherous stump of flesh, knotted, rotten, Twisted from thy flickering flirtations With lesser lovers, leaving frostbitten That sad little lump of palpitations. Withered lie thy dry leaves, O heart of mine, Deprived of all love’s life-giving waters, For thy lovers’ … Continue reading
Being Exalted on the Holy Cross
Love has conquered, therefore, Love shall be exalted forever. In speaking about the Holy Cross we are not far removed from speaking about love. On today’s feast, the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross, love is on full display. … Continue reading
Being Exalted on the Holy Cross
Love has conquered, therefore, Love shall be exalted forever. In speaking about the Holy Cross we are not far removed from speaking about love. On today’s feast, the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross, love is on full display. … Continue reading
The Participation Award
By God’s grace, you made it to heaven, and now you’re at the Awards Ceremony of the Heavenly Banquet. St. Peter’s the emcee of the event. He’s been calling out the names of the elect and handing out awards for … Continue reading
Lord, Have Mercy
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.Rise up, O Lord, and save your people whom you have redeemed at the price of your own blood.Good Shepherd, save your sheep who are ravaged by wolves. Raise up shepherds after … Continue reading
Who Am I to Judge?
We are called to be judges, but all too often we are unfit to judge. In the same epistle containing his great hymn to love, St. Paul rebukes the Corinthians for not fulfilling their noble role as judges. Do you … Continue reading
The Blood of Christ
A few weeks ago, I was contemplating Jesus on the cross. It’s not hard to image the pain he was experiencing: the nails, thorns, and scourging rip your own soul wide open. One common tradition understands that Jesus was offered … Continue reading
So Near to Us
In the record of Moses’ last words, in the book of Deuteronomy, we can hear the urgency with which this great prophet addressed his people. Moses, knowing that he was not going to enter the promised land, agonized over his … Continue reading
The Martyr-Prophet of Reform
Girolamo Savonarola was born in Northern Italy in 1452 to a well-to-do merchant family. Growing up, he was taught a love for the moral life and a hatred for decadence by his fervently religious grandfather. At the age of twenty-three, … Continue reading
Praying Amid Scandal
How do we pray amid Church scandals? One helpful way is to return to the basics: The Our Father. For this meditation, I’ll look to the various parts of the prayer in reverse order. Deliver us from evil — Father, … Continue reading
Clinging to the Cross
These past few weeks have been filled with suffering. The revelation of scandal has caused an immense amount of pain among the members of the Body of Christ, both the victims and all who love the Church. It raises a … Continue reading
The Seven Prayers of St. Gregory
A certain woman used to bring altar breads to Gregory every Sunday morning, and one Sunday, when the time came for receiving communion and he held out the Body of the Lord to her, saying “May the Body of our … Continue reading
Fruits of Redemption
“I’m starved…cheeseburgers…. …What was that idea I had for my ethics paper?… …Man, my knees really hurt right now…” During the final minutes of a Holy Hour, it’s pretty normal to find the mind wandering a bit. The act itself … Continue reading
A Jazzy God
While enjoying some live jazz recently, I realized that jazz is good.“What,” I thought, “makes this jazz so good?” What does this jazz share with God, from whom all good things come, and how can it therefore lead me to … Continue reading
Holy Hate
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good” (Rom 12:9). God’s grace conforms our hearts to his. We usually think about this divine work within ourselves as transforming us to love what God loves, … Continue reading
Preacher, Theologian, Contemplative
In Blessed Humbert of Romans’ important work, “On the Beginnings of the Order of Preachers,” he calls St. Augustine “the distinguished Preacher.” This way of identifying Augustine stands in splendid relief to St. Thomas Aquinas’ way of identifying him over … Continue reading
The Tears of St. Monica
Thus you gave another answer through your priest, a certain bishop nurtured in the Church and trained in your books. When that woman implored him to consider speaking with me, to refute my errors, un-teach me evil, and teach me … Continue reading
Faith Sees the Glory
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn 1:46). Such was the initial reaction to Jesus of the man we remember today, the man who, tradition tells us, would eventually surrender his very skin in testimony to Christ. Saint Bartholomew, also … Continue reading
To the Parents of a Black Sheep
Every family seems to have someone who sticks out above the rest, for better or for worse. It is not uncommon today to have parents who consider one (or more) of their children to be the “black sheep” of the … Continue reading
Her Reign Continues
Today’s feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a reminder that modern sensibilities still struggle with the idea of monarchs with real power. But, if we understand monarchy through a more classical lens, we realize that the … Continue reading
Stuck in the Molasses Swamp
How sad, how lack-luster a life he leadsWho delights to describe the death he sees.How rotten be the heart of a brotherWho snivels ‘bout the rot in another! ***** One thing we can know for certain about heaven is that … Continue reading
In the Breach
One of the homeless men in the basement was snoring. Loudly. Some years before I entered the Dominican Order, in the middle of a Confirmation class I was teaching, one student announced that he didn’t really believe in the Real … Continue reading