Bach served as Thomaskantor of Leipzig, musical director for liturgical services at St. Thomas and three other Lutheran churches in the city. We have outstandingly beautiful liturgical music for the entire year from Bach: Advent and Christmas oratorios, his famous works on the Passion, and music for major feast days. He also composed a number of so...

The Presidential Election of 2016 unveiled the growing divide of American culture. We are the most divided we have been since the Civil War. Lincoln saw the problem then and gave his famous House Divided Speech in 1858: “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.”...

Easter, Christmas, then the Annunciation? Although it’s not a holy day of obligation, the Annunciation is one of the central solemnities of the liturgical year. There are two main reasons why. First, the Incarnation is absolutely central to our faith and salvation. Even though we celebrate Christmas with great solemnity to mark Jesus’ birt...

Men, it is time to turn earnestly to the protection of the great St. Joseph. When Egypt experienced a great famine, “Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph and do what he tells you’” (Genesis 41:55). The world is experiencing a great, moral famine. The Popes have told us: “Go to Joseph, Son of David.” Devotion to St. Jo...

Pope Francis recently pointed to a troubling characteristic of our time. Speaking to the Polish Bishops at World Youth Day, he related that “in a conversation with Pope Benedict . . . he said to me: ‘Holiness, this is the age of sin against God the Creator.’” There are of course direct ways to sin against God the Creator: destroying human l...