“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
Danaher
The Women Who Brought Spices
The Lord is on my head like a crown, And I shall never be without Him. They have woven for me a crown of truth, And it caused Your branches to blossom in me. For it is not like a … Continue reading
Measuring My Maturity
Maturity is a difficult word to define. It’s also a difficult state to reach definitively, saying to ourselves, “Finally, I’ve arrived!” How do we know when we’re considered mature? Do we reach it by a certain age? Proverbs says so … Continue reading
A Growing Spirit of Criticism
This game I’ll call “Guess This Conservative Author,” and it only works if played by the rules. Without reading ahead, consider these select criticisms of modernity: Against self-serving politicians: See the moral hypocrisy of the commanding class. They know no … Continue reading
At the Hedge
The Word of God, solitary, magnificent amid the vicissitudes of human history, turns to me, his face shining from his vision of the Father, and speaks to me. As in all human love, only more so, I am exposed; I … Continue reading
Buried in the Prairie
Today I will be burying my grandmother. After 96 years of life, she returned to the Lord in the early morning of Easter Sunday. Despite the sadness, everyone in the family, every branch in that great tree, thought to themselves, … Continue reading
The Glamour of Evil
In the middle of the rite of Baptism, right before the water is poured, the parents and godparents are asked if they reject Satan and “the glamour of evil.” It’s a curious phrase. Their whole life ahead of them, young … Continue reading
March for Life
And what you thought you came forIs only a shell, a husk of meaningFrom which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilledIf at all. Either you had no purposeOr the purpose is beyond the end you figuredAnd is altered … Continue reading
Christmas Shopping
What hath Christ to do with Versace? I remember a Christmas morning interview with Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, on The Today Show. Asked how he felt living on 5th Avenue, in the heart of a world-renowned shopping … Continue reading
The Church is not a Government
The Church is not a government, and in these not-so-serene days of state debate, we can be thankful for that. A democracy, for instance, is like a babysitter. Her classic question is, “What did your mom say you could do?” … Continue reading
Lessons From The Garden
The medievals spoke of the Book of Scripture and the Book of Nature, both offering knowledge of God. Even within Scripture, men read from the Book of Nature: Adam naming the animals, Isaiah describing salvation as a desert in bloom, … Continue reading