When meeting someone important, there is always one question that precedes every conversation: how do I address this person? Is it Your Highness, Your Excellency, Mr. President, simply Sir or Ma’am? It’s not an idle question. The importance of the … Continue reading
Theology
More Eloquent than the Blood of Abel
Growing up the third of four boys I have thought long and hard about the story of Cain and Abel. Beside pondering fraternal conflict and the effects of original sin, the story of the brothers intrigues me with regard to … Continue reading
You Too Were Strangers
Having heard a very different speech earlier in the day, my Dominican brothers and I sat down in our chapel a few Fridays ago and heard these words from the Prophet Moses: On your fathers did the Lord set His … Continue reading
Your Saint Too
On Saturday, we Dominicans celebrated the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas with special solemnity. For us, the feast is always accompanied by a certain sense of fraternal pride. After all, this great saint and Doctor of the Church, held … Continue reading
Highway to Heaven
Editor’s note: This is the third post in a series commenting on the first words of Christ as presented in the Gospels. Let it be so for now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. (Mt … Continue reading
When the Word Speaks
Editor’s note: This is the first post in a series commenting on the first words of Christ as presented in the Gospels. The words of Christ are powerful. In the beginning, God spoke, and through his Word, the heavens and … 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
Dominicana Journal: Winter 2016 print issue is here!
Merry Christmas! The newest issue of the print journal has arrived! Dominicana is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding as a print journal. Discontinued in 1968, refounded in 2011, this publication gives you the writings of the student brothers, … Continue reading
Cold Comfort
Ebenezer Scrooge, visited already by several Spirits, “was ready for a good broad field of strange appearances…nothing between a baby and rhinoceros would have astonished him very much.” I’ve had the pleasure of thinking about Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol … Continue reading
Are You Lonely?
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 3:2). This Advent, John the Baptist invites us to go out into the desert to prepare for the … Continue reading
Don’t Drive Like Me, Brother
Advent is filled with John the Baptist moments. John the Baptist is like the siren at the head of a motorcade, waking us up to the arrival of someone important. What’s he saying? “Prepare the way of the Lord, make … Continue reading
Grateful To Be One
Throwback Thursday Editors Note: On behalf of all the student brothers here at the Dominican House of Studies, we would like to thank all of you, our friends and benefactors, for helping us to pursue our Dominican vocation. Without your prayers … Continue reading
Religion is Not Race
There is a troubling tendency in our public discourse to reduce religion to race or ethnicity (the complex case of Judaism aside). On this view, religion is a more or less superficial feature of one’s identity—something akin to skin color … Continue reading
Dwindled Infinity
It is not uncommon for the priory where I live in Washington, D.C. to host guests for dinner. On occasion, our guests will be a family. From time to time, that family will include a baby. Seeing a baby become … Continue reading
Act Like a Man: 5 Tips with St. Thomas
“What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?” (Ps 8:5) In the face of gender theory and feminist ideologies which challenge the notion of manhood, the Church needs real … Continue reading
God’s Work of Art
“We are God’s great, wondrous work of art” may sound like a cheesy lyric from a modern hymn, but it conveys a surprisingly challenging theological message. While it is true enough that good art is appreciated around the world, works … Continue reading
The Standing Now
In a few days we will celebrate Christ the King, which anticipates the moment when Jesus returns, time ends, and eternal life begins. But what do we mean by “eternal”? Is it the same sort of eternity as a traffic … Continue reading
The End of Mercy
During my novitiate year, I visited residents in an assisted living facility every week. Sometimes the interactions were whimsical (once, a resident advised me on cheap places to take a girl on a first date—I don’t think he quite understood … Continue reading
Known By Your Fruits
Today the Church celebrates the feast day of a Dominican saint and doctor of the Church, St. Albert the Great. The list of his contributions to Western thought is staggering. He was one of the first to comment on many … 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
Bittersweet Mysteries
All Souls’ Day, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, is the day the Church recalls in a special way “those who have died and have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.” Today is naturally a very … Continue reading
Of Mice and Martin
He never met a miracle he didn’t like. That is to say, St. Martin de Porres was a prolific miracle-worker. In his meekness he never tried to draw attention to the marvels he worked, but his miraculous output, prodigious as … Continue reading
To Be In That Number
“Oh, Lord, I want to be in that number, when the Saints go marching in!” Like every good New Orleanian, I always interpreted the song “When the Saints Go Marching In” as a prophecy of the impossible regarding the day … Continue reading
The Light of the World
“The Light of the World” Why do you knock like a guest long forgotten?The door remains locked, its heavy frame rotten,While a tangle of vines adorns lintel and post. I come to awaken my slumbering host. Why … Continue reading
The Visceral Reality of God’s Love
I once heard a preacher tell his congregation that Catholics have a peculiar fascination with the gruesomeness of the crucifixion and that this sick fixation on “gore” was behind the death and darkness now celebrated on Halloween. “They love their … Continue reading