“The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.” Don Shula “Excuses are the tools of the incompetent.” Mike Tomlin I was emptying out our dishwasher a few nights back. My wife had pulled some Christmas plates out of storage and cleaned them to help us enter into the season. As I was unloading the dozen plates, my 4 yea...

The concept a man has of God guides his whole life.  If he considers God a far-off being with no concern for mankind, he will return the favor and have no concern for God.  If Jesus is a softie who advocates a spineless resignation that he calls “love,” a man will never stand up to defend the truth of the faith.  If he perceives God to be a ...

Over the years, St. Francis has borne more than his fair share of controversy. As a provocative figure in his time, he used his popularity/notoriety to reinvigorate and rebuild the Church. In the centuries following his death, the nature and scope of his personal mission and that of the religious order he founded became points of heated debate. The...

Most often when an American thinks of the Founding Fathers names such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, or George Washington are the first to be considered. And indeed, they are the true Founders of the American Republic in which the Constitution and ideals of endowed rights of the individual coming from God were written into law. However, in...

Do you think that in our lifetime we will witness the blood of Christian citizens on the hands of our nation’s leaders?  Will the “mild” persecution of government override of conscience, forced monetary compliance for morally objectionable ends and attempts at limiting free speech be the worst of what we will see?  Such an assumption seems,...

Mr. Sean Mitchell You have probably heard these famous words of G.K. Chesterton: “Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”  I wholeheartedly agree; I hope you do too.  That being said, I think Chesterton’s words raise an important question.  ...

Mr. Sean Mitchell Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a man whose life and virtues every Christian man should know and emulate. Even a cursory reading of his biography Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy gives one the sense that he achieved that fully human life that all men desire, but so few obtain.  Bonhoeffer was a genius theologian, a...

Evil will seek us out, like a lion seeking someone to devour. It is inevitable. For the vast majority of us, our battles with evil will occur in the form of temptation rather than physical manifestations of the devil, and to be honest, I am glad.  I think I would scream like a small infant if I saw the devil; we should count our blessings. In 1...

The 20th century economist John Maynard Keynes famously wrote: “In the long run, we’re all dead.” The quip was meant in some ways as a tongue-in-cheek jab at those who did not share his views about the long-run effects of high government spending, and in context is a criticism of what Keynes perceived as flaws in his opponents’ thinking. Al...

“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. . . “ From the pages of the New Testament we see Michael as the leader of the armies of the Lord of Hosts. It is he who fights the great battle in heaven against Lucifer, and who casts him and his followers into the pit of hell (Rev 12:7). From the very beginning the struggle against t...