My grandfather passed away suddenly when I was only five years old. Knowing my parents, I must have seen a lot of him as an infant, but we had been living in Germany for three years when the tragic news … Continue reading →

What a long, strange trip it’s been, hasn’t it? Yesterday we kept the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord, usually celebrated on the day nine months before Christmas. The Word through whom all things were created enters His creation … Continue reading →

At the end of a particularly good day, my college friends would refer to it as a “slice of the Glory Cake.” The exact origins of the phrase have been lost to the mists of history, but during our reunions, … Continue reading →

In algebra, students learn to perform mathematical operations using variables.  Initially, these variables represent known quantities, but eventually they come to represent unknowns.  The usefulness of this skill becomes apparent once one leaves the classroom: oftentimes, one must do more … Continue reading →

For many people, Easter is just another holiday, differentiated merely by its pastel color scheme, chocolate bunnies, and Easter egg hunts. But in the Church’s liturgy we are reminded why life and death have been forever changed by the power … Continue reading →

Pope Benedict XVI describes the Resurrection of Jesus as an “evolutionary leap” in which a new dimension of human existence emerges.  This new dimension “affects all of us and opens up for us a new space of life, a new … Continue reading →

Today’s Gospel recounts Judas’s betrayal of Jesus. For thirty pieces of silver, he agrees to hand Jesus over to the chief priests. This betrayal begins a chain of additional handing-overs. The chief priests hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate, who … Continue reading →

There are, in the life of the believer, occasions when the Lord seems to slumber. It isn’t that He feels completely absent—as He did to St. John of the Cross, Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, and others who have experienced the … Continue reading →

It’s called the Place of the Skull, we’re told. Κρανίου Τόπος. Everything converges on this place, as a figure hangs from a cross sunk into the Skull, a hill so named on account of its pock-marked appearance or after its … Continue reading →

Dominicana > Home / Culture, Discipleship, Evangelization, History, New Evangelization, Politics, Preaching, Saints, Virtue, Virtue & Moral Life / Lions and Wolves and Lambs, Oh My! “I am sending you out as lambs among wolves” -Luke 10:3   “It is … Continue reading →

Twenty years ago this month, seven Trappist monks from the Atlas Abbey of Tibhirine in Algeria were kidnapped by extremist Islamic insurgents. Ultimately, their severed heads were found two months later; they died as martyrs for Christ. The story of … Continue reading →

Dominicana is happy to offer this audio recording of “A Kingdom Unlike All the Other Nations: The Son of David’s Reign of Mercy.” It was given by Br. Isaac Morales, O.P. as the final installment of the 2016 Lenten Conferences … Continue reading →

In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. – C. S. Lewis Last month, the country (and friars of our house) mourned the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. Given the polarization … Continue reading →

Give us Barabbas! The familiar scene unfolds in our minds at least once a year: Jesus and Barabbas stand before the crowd in the praetorium. Barabbas the criminal is grunting about, egging on the crowd to cheer for him. He … Continue reading →

I recently listened to a public radio segment on CERN, the scientific research facility in Switzerland. I was struck by what the reporter referred to as, “the heart of CERN.” One might think it’s the laboratory or the complex scientific … Continue reading →

Days before her martyrdom in the year 203, St. Perpetua was granted this vision of her spiritual confrontation with that ancient serpent, Satan. I saw a golden ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven….. And under the ladder … Continue reading →

Dominicana Blog is happy to offer this audio recording of “Christ Our High Priest.” It was given by Br. Nicholas Schneider, O.P. as the first installment of a three-part series of Lenten Conferences, given at the Dominican House of Studies. … Continue reading →

Has your pilgrimage through Lent started to feel like a slog? We make our resolutions with zeal on Ash Wednesday, but after a few weeks of slipping here and there in our fasting, it’s easy to become discouraged. We start … Continue reading →

As preachers of the Word-made-flesh, the apostles of Jesus Christ understand the power of words. They know our voices can praise the Lord and announce His marvelous works. Therefore they sharply admonish us not to sin with our tongue. St. … Continue reading →

Leap Day, February 29th, marks the feast of St. John Cassian in the Eastern Calendar (and by some Western accounts). While the saints in heaven surely have more important things to contemplate than their earthly honors, it does seem an … Continue reading →

In the warm southern states of Florida and Arizona, where it seems as if winter never really arrives, the captivating sound of the crack of the bat can already be heard.  Baseball players from all across the major leagues have … Continue reading →

Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Dante Alighieri penned these opening lines as a banished man in his forty-third year. Exiled from his native Florence … Continue reading →

As she crossed the threshold, she breathed again. One, long, deep breath. Moments earlier, a powerful surge, unseen, unheard, whisked away her burden untold. Her tears and her shame had been met with the simple words: “I absolve you…” Ever … Continue reading →

Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to … Continue reading →