Would you rather read a book or watch a movie? I prefer books. Diving into a novel feels like swimming in a lake. Watching a movie, on the other hand, feels more like staring at a fishing bobber from a jon boat. How can this be? How can words on a page compete with the music, color, adventure and scenery of a good film? Some folks would...

This article was previously published in Sword and Spade magazine. Theo Howard, writing this dispatch from Great Britain,  considers the reasons to wear masks and the reasons to take them off. Perhaps the supreme symbol of the tribulations that have beset the world in the last year is the medical face mask. Itself of doubtful effectiveness...

This article was previously published in Sword and Spade magazine. Around the issues of belonging and communion, marriage is front and center. Setting aside the flagrant disregard for the obvious nature of marriage today, Catholics of goodwill can still be more than confused in regards to what weddings they can/should attend and which they ought...

My wife has recently encouraged me to resurrect the practice of my “commonplace notebook,” which is the recording of wise quotes and sayings that one comes across in reading or what have you. King Alfred the Great, who led the legendary expansion of Christianity, learning, and the defeat of many Viking strongholds in England, was said to have k...

Desire for things we do not yet fully possess drives so much of our lives. Even when we ask one another, “How are you?” the detailed answers tend not toward what we are in the current moment, but what we “will be” after something else is achieved and reached. “Fine,” we say, “I’m almost done with this big project and then I ca...

by Chris Fernandez Jason Craig’s Article What’s Wrong with the ‘Pursuit of Happiness,’ from the 2nd Sunday in OT is applicable here, and a good reference. This article clarifies what consists in true happiness: Freedom for the Good. “To be happy is to seek God and virtue in relation to the order of grace.” Jason quotes Aquinas in e...

The historic timing of Jesus’ coming was not random. He came, as Scripture puts it, “in the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4). What does that mean and why might God have chosen that time over others? Let’s put it into a broader context. The moment of Our Lord’s coming was when many currents of world history were coming together, specificall...

The word humility comes from the word humus, which means earth, or in particular the under-earth. The dark soft spongy earth without any plant decay still in it. Our word humility can make us think of the words at Ash Wednesday, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” It is said that humility is the first of the virtues, because it situ...

by Craig Taffaro As in all things, Christ Jesus models perfection in fulfilling the commandment to honor thy father and mother. The Catholic man finds in the life of Jesus, and in the Lord’s reverence of Mary and Joseph, a model for honoring God the Father, honoring his earthly parents and a model for respecting earthly authorities. Althoug...

by Mr. David Gates   “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24.   Brothers, it is clear from these words from our Lord that a necessary prerequisite to taking up our cross and following Jesus is to deny ourselves. But what do you think our Lord means by this? Are ...