The season of Lent is a time of hope and renewal. We examine our interior spiritual lives, consider our imperfections, and work to improve on them. We commit to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These practices no doubt have a positive … Continue reading
Author Archives: dbrindle
Returning to Dust
“In the midst of life we are in death.” Today as priests adorn millions of foreheads with ash, many will hear, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This reminder of death comes from God’s reprimand … Continue reading
I’ll leave the light on
I see the terrifying spaces of the universe that enclose me, and I find myself attached to a corner of this vast expanse, without knowing why I am more in this place than in another, nor why this little time … Continue reading
A Tidy Life: Ignatian Discernment and Thomistic Anthropology
“Does it spark joy?” This is the central question of Marie Kondo’s KonMari method of tidying up. As I go through my possessions I need to hold them in my hands and ask this question: does it spark joy? If … Continue reading
Contra Mundum
Faith and Film Friday: Brideshead Revisited Editor’s Note: This is the fifth review in our series, Faith and Film Friday. Read the whole series here. Anyone who has even briefly surveyed popular Catholic novels has no doubt come across Evelyn … Continue reading
Sharing More Than Germs
Even as a kid, if I wanted to drink from my brother’s water bottle, he asked me to “waterfall” it. When I was in college, it was alright to share a pint of ice cream with friends, even if there … Continue reading
Mass on a Roadtrip
Restless night in a hotel. Bad coffee. Unknown parish. Architecture from the 60s—white walls, strange angles, ambiguous stained glass. Pews of cheap wood stretch forward to the sanctuary. A candle burns before the tabernacle. An empty pew stands out, halfway … Continue reading
The Tongue of the Wise
Sticks and stones may break bones, but words wound hearts. A well chosen insult cuts to the core, searching out secret soft spots so that the fresh wound festers more than the former. How cleverly cruel we can be, delighting … Continue reading
Pharaohs Who Know Not Jesus
In the final chapters of the book of Genesis, we find Joseph, a person who foreshadows and anticipates the coming of Christ. There are many parallels between the lives of Joseph and Jesus. For example, the malice of Joseph’s brothers, … Continue reading
Being Loud
Faith and Film Friday: A Man for All Seasons Editor’s Note: This is the fourth review in our series, Faith and Film Friday. Read the whole series here. Important things—what we may call “things of consequence”—tend to be loud. Soldiers fighting a … Continue reading
Every Crumb
This year, I am assigned to work in the sacristy, wherein we look after everything that is used in the liturgy. We do everything from setting up for Mass, to cleaning objects that I never knew the name of before … Continue reading
What are you fighting for?
We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them. —Bilbo Baggins Life is a great adventure, and as every seasoned adventurer … Continue reading
Not by Bread Alone
On family movie night, sometimes my family and I would take a trip to our local grocery store to get some ice cream. My mom and my sisters would choose those normal-sized individual pints. My dad, my brother, and I … Continue reading
Painting the Contemplative Life
Today we celebrate the feast of our Dominican brother, Blessed John of Fiesole (more commonly known as Fra Angelico). His paintings are some of the most enchanting depictions of the life of Christ and of the Church, and they continue … Continue reading
The Island’s Holy Fool
Faith and Film Friday: The Island Editor’s Note: This is the third review in our series, Faith and Film Friday. Read the whole series here. The title of this film warrants a disclaimer from the outset, especially to those avid … Continue reading
A Helper to Till the Garden
In the Genesis passage at Mass today, God seeks to create a suitable “helper” for the man he placed in the garden. We know the rest of the story. God presents the newly formed woman to the man, who exclaims: … Continue reading
Time for a Check-Up!
“You’re dying.” It took a moment for those words to sink in. Dying. This thing will kill me. “How could I be dying? How could it be this serious? I mean, how long have I had it?” “Actually,” the doctor … Continue reading
From Wicked Lips
Truth is found in surprising places. We expect to hear prophecy spoken by holy men—and it is—but it’s also sometimes spoken by the wicked, as in the strange story of Balaam. We find the story in Numbers 22-24, and it’s worth … Continue reading
In the Image
Above is an image of Zinaida Serebriakova, a woman created in the image of the Triune God. Zinaida sees herself in the mirror and knows herself; she sees herself to be beautiful, knows herself to be good. Seeing and knowing … Continue reading
Hollywood Needs Miracles Too
Faith and Film Friday: The Song of Bernadette Editor’s Note: This is the second review in our series, Faith and Film Friday. Read the whole series here. Imagine a world in which a film about Marian apparitions and simple Catholic piety could … Continue reading
Pulling the Fourth
“I told them I was pulling the fourth.” A wise father once shared with me that the fourth commandment—honor thy father and mother—is a trump card he holds up his sleeve. He pulls it out when his children need to … Continue reading
Martyrdom: Is it really about death?
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on February 6, 2015. Fr. Bonaventure Chapman was ordained to the priesthood in May 2017 and now serves as the assistant chaplain and adjunct professor of philosophy at Providence College for the Dominican … Continue reading
The Faithful Bridegroom
Scripture tells the story of the prophet Hosea, a man commissioned by God to marry a woman named Gomer who will prove unfaithful to him. “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the … Continue reading
Religious Sign Value
Just a few weeks ago, a man approached me as I marched with my brothers and sisters up Constitution Avenue. “Hey! I was curious … who are you guys?” Having commonly fielded this question, I answered, “We’re called Dominicans. We’re … Continue reading
Killing the Good Priest
Faith and Film Friday: Calvary Editor’s Note: This is the first review in our series, Faith and Film Friday. Read the whole series here. I had never even heard of the movie Calvary when, in the summer of 2014, my … Continue reading