Some people say that the Bible is like a “love letter” from God. That’s hard to take when you’re sitting in the pew, listening to a lector mumble a reading filled with ancient names and places, and you suddenly realize … Continue reading
beiter
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
Never Again to Die
In Holy Week, we experience more than ever the interpenetration of Lent and Easter. Our focus on the Passion is growing, even as we prepare for our Easter celebration. On Friday, the Church makes procession to venerate the Cross, then … Continue reading
A God Who Cannot Feel
In this season of penance, we ask God to have mercy. Human mercy involves compassion, looking upon someone’s misery and feeling it as your own. But God, in his eternity, can’t feel misery—he can’t feel anything. I don’t mean that … Continue reading
What’s Up with Sacrifice?
Sacrifice is tough. It is even more so because it’s hard to make sense out of why we should bother in the first place. As one who also struggles with sacrifice, I turned to a trustworthy brother (Thomas Aquinas) for … Continue reading
Stay Awake
Today we begin the Holy Triduum, the three-day liturgy, the highest celebration of the church. It is an exhausting enterprise, with waiting, silence, fasting, lots of lines and processions and standing and kneeling. To appreciate it requires both attention and … Continue reading
The Presence of God
Homes are not beautiful if they are empty. Things are beautiful by the presence of God. —St. Thomas Aquinas on Psalm 25 So many today never think of God, and some, even when they do think of God, consider him … Continue reading
A Song Beneath
Kino heard the little splash of morning waves on the beach. It was very good—Kino closed his eyes again to listen to his music. Perhaps he alone did this and perhaps all of his people did it. His people had … Continue reading
I Spy with My Little Eye
And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger… And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Lk 2:16, … Continue reading
Advent Conference Audio: Elizabeth of the Trinity
Dominicana is happy to offer this audio recording of “The Dark Light of Sister Elizabeth.” It was given by Br. Isaiah Beiter, O.P. as the first installment of the 2016 Advent Conferences at the Dominican House of Studies. Series flyer … Continue reading
A Prayer of Christian Philosophy
Why, O Eternal Wisdom, do the heavens move as they do, the rains fall, and the windows fog? Why does my breath make clouds? Why does the oil hover on the water and the light burn up the darkness? Why, … Continue reading
The Waters Have Risen to My Neck
“Do not babble like the pagans doThinking many words louder than few.”But I can merely mumble oneAt the smashing news: I am heard in none. I met a woman this summer, poor and weary, working 60 hours a week as … Continue reading