Suffering in the New Year

At the beginning of every new year there is a sense of hope. We take stock of where we are as individuals in our life, where we want to be in a year’s time, and how to go about accomplishing … Continue reading

Roused by Hope

Pray without ceasing.(1 Thes 5:17) Sometimes we confuse what God wants with what we think God wants or expects from us. Take prayer, for example. It’s disappointing when you try to pray but all you do is doze off. You … Continue reading

Repent: A Cry of Hope

In the opening scene, and recurring many times throughout the 2006 Russian film, The Island, a monk named Anatoly cries out in anguish over and over again, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” He is tortured … Continue reading

Woe and Praise

I recently met a young person who told me, “You’re the first person I’ve met who is my age and actually believes in God.” With the growing number of “nones”—those who identify as having no religious beliefs—many Christians worry that … Continue reading

Faith, Hope, and Love Towards Canaan’s Land

Editor’s note: This is the twelfth post in our newest series, reflecting on the Hillbilly Thomists’ recent, self-titled album. The series will run each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the Easter season. Read the whole series here. This post concerns the … Continue reading

Slipping Chains

Editor’s note: This is the eighth post in our newest series, reflecting on the Hillbilly Thomists’ recent, self-titled album. The series will run each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the Easter season. Read the whole series here. This post concerns the … Continue reading

Amazing Grace and Graced Memories

Editor’s note: This is the sixth post in our newest series, reflecting on the Hillbilly Thomists’ recent, self-titled album. The series will run each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the Easter season. Read the whole series here. This post concerns the … Continue reading

Accounting for Your Hope

Editor’s note: This is the second post in our newest series, reflecting on the Hillbilly Thomists’ recent, self-titled album. The series will run each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the Easter season. Read the whole series here. This post concerns the … Continue reading

How Lonely Sits the City

How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the cities has become a vassal. -Lamentations 1:1 In 589 … 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

Dispelling Darkness

On a recent Sunday evening, another brother and I walked up to a snow-covered golf course at the edge of the grounds at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Up for the week visiting our campus ministry there, we had … Continue reading

A Sign of Hope

After an exhausting year, which made me grateful that my hope is based solidly upon God alone and not upon any human person or institution, I was nonetheless ready for some sign of hope to start this new year. The … Continue reading

Flash of Fire in the Fog

Editor’s note: This is the seventh post in a series commenting on the first words of Christ as presented in the Gospels. What do you seek? … Come and see. (Jn 1:38-39) At the very core of our being, there … Continue reading

Tolkien and Hope

Throwback Tuesday I sit beside the fire and think  of all that I have seen,of meadow-flowers and butterflies  in summers that have been; Of yellow leaves and gossamer  in autumns that there were,with morning mist and silver sun  and wind upon my hair. I … Continue reading

5 Meditations for Election Week

This election has all the attraction of a highway car crash. It’s gruesome to behold, but we can’t seem to turn away. Much of America is disillusioned about the candidates, yet record numbers watched the presidential debates. And like a … Continue reading

Light in the Darkness

Light veils monsters to weak eyes. This fact is familiar if you’ve ever been spotted in the dark. A blinding flash fills your doe eyes, abruptly ending your midnight escapades. Frozen, you hold your breath, waiting to see who is … 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