This article was previously published in Sword & Spade magazine.   Ed Toth, Fraternus Sage, didn’t recognize his worldly  attachments and identities until they were gone. I remember hearing the revelry and cheering outside as the new year dawned on December 31st, 2019. I was alone, laying on the floor of my newly emptied office...

The prison guard weighed the small plastic bottle in the palm of her hand. “It’s not grape juice?” “No, ma’am.” She held the three ounces of rose-colored liquid up to the light. “Not permitted,” she said. I was taken aback. “Ma’am, Catholics are required to use real wine for Mass. I’ve been to this unit numerous...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Gregory Matthews, corporate lawyer, is concerned that versions of  the American dream are leading some to a nightmare. Our communities are being torn apart today by a host of divisive agendas that are seemingly promoted by all of our cultural institutions, from the classroo...

The first time I met a resident of Wheeler, Texas, I made a snide comment: “Where’d your town get its name? It is full of wheeler-dealers?” Sometimes God pays me back for smart-aleck remarks. A couple Sundays ago, I substituted for the priest at Wheeler. During the opening prayer, a family entered church and filed into the last bench: a...

Do you have a favorite coffee cup? I’m not referring to the one that looks like all the rest except for the chip in the handle. Rather, I’m thinking about a mug on the corner of your desk or the tumbler with the lid that rides along in your truck. Or, maybe, you got a number of favorite coffee cups.  If they’re like mine, they sport nifty...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade magazine. Fr. Matthew Buettner, Spiritual Director at St. Joseph College  Seminary, Charlotte, distinguishes loneliness and solitude. Man is a social animal. Most of us enter the world in the context of a community, principally, a family. Even the Son of God stepped onto the stage of...

Children occasionally wander off, casting parents into a state of anxiety and panic. As a celibate, I can only imagine how that experience must feel. Adult children also wander off. As a priest who minsters to addicts and inmates, I share common ground with parents whose adult children get lost on the road of life. The agony that I feel is but a...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine.   By: Joseph Pearce, father and scholar, helps us to  get into the books we need to get. As with all things, it is best to begin with the basics. Before we can understand how to read great literature properly, we need to know how to read properly, and before we can ...

In the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned. Travelers took to winding paths. (Judges 5:6) When it comes to long-distance travel, most people book airline flights or drive Interstates. Personally, I prefer blue highways, those two-lane roads printed in blue, squiggly lines on foldout maps. My schedule does not allow much for scenic ro...

This article was previously published in the Sword & Spade magazine.   Ryan Hanning, homesteading father and scholar, gives  some insights on knowing the great mystery of self. It was a five-day road trip my dad had planned since the moment I was born. Now sixteen years later we pulled his 1983 Datsun 280ZX up to a small roadsid...