2019 Summer Reading Recommendations:Sister Mary Baruch, the Early Years by Jacob Restrick, O.P. I would like to recommend Sister Mary Baruch, the Early Years, by Jacob Restrick, O.P. The work is the first of a five book series that follows … Continue reading
Fiction
The Untamed Lion
“Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you” (Mr. Beaver, The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe). A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not a hunky-dory friendship with a buddy. Jesus is the God-man, and … Continue reading
Living in Grace
Life really is like a Sigrid Undset novel. It’s all about grace—receiving it and rejecting it. Undset masterfully crafts her characters to reveal the quiet—and sometimes not so quiet—movements of grace in their lives. God lovingly touches each soul, bestowing upon … Continue reading
An Everyday Search
Perhaps you’ve found yourself caught in the suffocating everydayness of life. Get up, eat breakfast, go to work, pick up the kids, make dinner, watch TV, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. Every morning’s alarm might as well be the … Continue reading
Into the Pit
In the end, evil destroys itself. This is certainly a comforting thought, but it can be hard to remember as we look upon the world. One of the functions of literature is to make these kinds of truths clearer for … Continue reading
Hope in the Dark
My heart in hiding stirred for a bird,– the achieve of, the mastery of the thing! -Gerard Manley Hopkins I think everyone is a little bit scared of being alone in the dark. The travels of Caspian the Navigator have … Continue reading
First Mass
A Short Story Clenching the wheel of his community’s beat-up beige Ford Taurus so tightly the color had fully drained from his hands, Father Eugene Felusiak raced up the Jersey Turnpike. As he successfully steered the vehicle from one lane … Continue reading
Dusk. Two Men.
Twilight. The outside of a large estate in the country. It’s a warm evening with a pleasant breeze carrying snatches of music, laughter, and delicious-smelling smoke over the walls. A man is sitting by himself on a bench outside the … Continue reading
The Very Stones Will Cry Out
A short story Lucius walked the dusty streets, twisting his fingers in careful patterns, practicing yesterday’s lesson. He was a clever and talented student, so the pebble he was looking at obediently skipped alongside him. By now the route was … Continue reading
Prayer Box
Geneva Nielson was the type of woman that would make an old mule seem flexible. Two years ago, to the shock of everyone in town, she started going to church. There wasn’t anywhere particular she called home, as just “going … Continue reading
The Unkempt Man
Brother’s having a really rough day. He wakes up at 7:08 am, throws on his habit, bounds bleary-eyed down two flights of stairs, and makes it to the chapel as the lector finishes the first reading. After Mass, Brother finishes … Continue reading