This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Benjamin Mann, as one deeply involved in vocations within the Eastern  Catholic traditions, corrects a common problem in discernment.   It is quite traditional and correct to speak of “discerning a vocation” — particularly to consecrated life or the priesthoo...

Mighty grain elevators—1,500 broad-shouldered "Sentinels of the Plains"—once stood guard over farm towns across the State of Texas. Today, less than a third of the aged watchmen report for duty. In their place, prison towers now shadow the edge of many rural communities. I spent the first week of November in one of those prison towns. Normal...

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...

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...

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...

Invocations from the Litany of Loreto play in my mind as I drive through Indiana and across Illinois:                                                             Morning Star                                                             Ark of the Covenant                     ...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Tim Bennett, handyman and father, learns more from a son than he’ll ever teach him. I call myself a handyman, and I truly enjoy the work that I do because I’m not doing the same thing every day. I often get to be challenged by working through problems that many people ca...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Andrew Knepper, farmer and father, proposes C.S. Lewis’s  advice from other times of worldwide uncertainty.   In 1948 C.S. Lewis wrote a brief essay entitled “On Living in an Atomic Age.” This intellectual great sought to answer the question posed by countless...

I read a story about a man with a recurring nightmare. In the dream, he was pursued by a fierce lion which kept chasing him until he dropped from exhaustion and woke screaming. The dream disturbed him greatly and, eventually, he sought counsel from his pastor. As they spoke, the pastor asked if there was something troubling going on in his life:...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade magazine. Jared Staudt, teacher and father, explains why distinguishing faith  and reason is important when debating and explaining.   In a world that has gone mad, our greatest need in the recovery of our sanity is faith. Without it, the human mind experiences an eclipse, cu...