Terrorism is nothing new. It’s probably as old as the human race. In fact the cradle of civilization, now Iraq, was the home of the most infamous terrorists of antiquity, the Assyrians. Their goal was to conquer their neighbors in a way that would minimize initial resistance and subsequent rebellion. To do this, they knew […]
Behold the wood of the cross, on which has hung our salvation: come let us adore (Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion). As we trod with Jesus the steps to Golgotha that draw Lent to a close, it is worthy to note that these are not the waning days of a dry, tired Lent. Instead, they […]
My soul longing, I close my Bible. My desire is to rest — not to relax and take it easy, but to actively find a properly holy place of rest in my heart, mind and soul. I’m not seeking to recline on a Caribbean beach or to cast my gaze down upon a lush, green […]
There is nothing you can ever do to make God love you less. Nothing. This is very hard for us human creatures to wrap our heads around: a love so generous we can’t do anything to lessen it. Jesus came to make this point perfectly and tangibly clear through His life and death. In the […]
In his remarkably profound book, Lift Up You Heart, Bishop Fulton Sheen said, “The Cross is the most inescapable reality of life. If we will not accept it outside of ourselves, to pardon us and to heal, then we will have it inside, as frustration and despair.” The life changing reality of Calvary has been […]
Hey, where are you going? It’s not Easter, yet. “Stay a while. Do not hurry by the cross on your way to Easter joy, for we know the risen Lord only through Christ and him crucified.” (Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon). Jason Hall reminds us that, “It is common, and entirely appropriate, for us to […]
The lesson of Dostoyevsky’s works can be summed up like this: It is the Cross that focuses the human condition in all its bitterness and all its horror, and it is the Resurrection that proclaims the final response of God; His promise of freedom from sin, the overcoming of death, and abundant life at last. […]
On a November morning before dawn my wife and I, and three other people on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, followed a Franciscan priest into the small edicule that surrounds Jesus’ tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The priest was going to say Mass, and he was pleased that we could […]
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21) There are many, many lessons to be learned in the example Christ left for us in his suffering. One of those, I believe, is a lesson in how […]
On Good Friday many of us will try and fail to comprehend the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the Cross. How can we comprehend such suffering? What in our lives can ever compare to the horrors of the Passion? The Crucifixion was bad enough but there was also the Scourging and the Crowning with […]
Over the centuries, Christian artists have produced innumerable portrayals of the Lord’s crucifixion, but none so terrible as Matthias Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, a work at once transfixing and repulsive. The middle panel of the Isenheim triptych features Christ, pallid and emaciated and thorn-pierced, pinned to the tree. It is truly a garish scene, torn from […]
Before seminary I worked as a reporter. In the news business we used a saying to determine whether a story merited front-page coverage or should be placed on the back page. “If it bleeds, it leads.” In newspaper jargon, it means, “If you want blood, we’ve got it,” and never let the facts get in […]
“Through Christ we are given revelation about the nature of God-Love. The perfection consists in that this love humbly, without reservations, gives itself over.” –Archimandrite Sophrony God exists as Gift. He is relentlessly Self-emptying, pouring His love and life into this world for our sakes, undeserving wretches though we are. We have such difficulty “knowing” […]
