homily
March 11, 2019
In his 1942 memoir, Austrian writer Stephan Zweig tells of hearing Hitler’s voice on the radio while riding a train in Texas, of hearing in real time about bombings and atrocities from all over the world, an experience which was new in human history and not altogether welcome. “Thanks to our new methods of spreading news […]
March 3, 2019
“What is most contrary to salvation is not sin but habit.” These are the words of Charles Péguy, instigator, poet, soldier, Catholic. And they’re words which, for me, come to mind as we begin our Lent again. He was talking about those habits which control us, shape us, which although small by themselves, together can define […]
February 28, 2019
My wife and I, we have four children, all younger than 7. Ours is not a quiet house. A house of screaming and a house of endless snot, it’s also a house of love, grown and multiplied every few years. In a house of little sleep, my hobby these days is simply to sit down; fellow […]
February 19, 2019
What passes for Christianity, what people see and mistake for Christianity, that’s what’s wrong with it. That Christianity — the phenomena, not the faith — has been eclipsed by parody; it’s why so many dismiss it. Because what’s laughable and incredible isn’t genuine Christianity, but rather a counterfeit too often misconstrued for the real thing.
January 25, 2019
It was the hat, you see, that smile, that smirk. Julie Irwin Zimmerman, writing for The Atlantic, called it a Rorschach test, which is the best way to think of that viral scene involving students from Covington Catholic High School and Nathan Phillips. Proving true what C.S. Lewis wrote: What you see and hear depends upon your point […]
March 29, 2020
Gabriel Marcel, French playwright, theatre critic, and philosopher of whom I am fond: he said something once I’ve always believed to be true. He said, “To love…is to say thou wilt never die.”[1] Think about that.
April 5, 2020
There’s a story of a man who after his death found himself at the gate of heaven. Before him stood an angel staring at him silently.
April 9, 2020
To put it very simply, what we do this evening is what faithful people have always done and will until the end of time: since Egypt, since the desert, since Christ, and unto the heavenly Jerusalem. It is why we are here.
April 19, 2020
Words, to quote T. S. Eliot, “Crack and sometimes break.”[1] C. S. Lewis called it “verbicide,” the killing of a word by overuse.[2] This can sometimes happen to words: they get worn out and bent, sometimes corrupted and altered beyond their original meaning all together, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
May 31, 2020
To watch this homily, click here. The idea, you see, was of a kingdom, of a peace which passed understanding.[1]