Recently on Twitter someone I follow sent me this quote from Fr. Ron Rolheiser: “The opposite of fear is not doubt but anxiety.” The older I have become I have noticed more and more anxiety creeping into my life. But…
Protect Us From All Anxiety
The Philosophy of Laudato Si
Much has already been written about Pope Francis new encyclical. A great deal of that writing has analyzed the letter through a political lens. This is not illegitimate, as Pope Francis raises many issues that are explicitly political. And the…
Don’t Envy Evil
Okay, it’s gut check time again. As always, it is important to face the evils of this world with boldness and courage. We live in a world soaked with sin and only good men and women can, by the grace…
An Interview about Ministry
(A few months back, I was interviewed by a former student about my thoughts on Christian ministry. I’m afraid he makes me sound better than I am, especially when I reference ideas from wiser and holier people than me like…
On the Necessity of the Trinity
The first and deepest mystery of the Christian faith is the Trinity. It is a mystery because we can never fully understand it: we have 3 distinct Persons in One God. The Father is not the Son, neither of Them…
Romance Has No Reason
I don’t believe the cultural attack on marriage is an accident. While we are making progress as a culture in some areas like respect for unborn life, there is little question that we are losing the importance of marriage. There…
Failure on the Faith Journey
I don’t know about you, but I am constantly confronted by my own failure on this journey of faith. Sometimes it even feels like all of my efforts to holiness end in failure. Looking back on my life, there are…
Secular Arguments for Traditional Marriage
“That religion should be relegated to solitude in such an age is, then, paradoxical. But it is also dangerous for two reasons. In the first place, when the modern world says to us aloud, ‘You may be religious when you…
The Tenth Leper Lenten Challenge
I apologize in advance if someone wiser than I has already come up with this idea and in my ignorance I have now aped someone’s originality. But a number of years ago, I was introduced to an activity called…
Love Being Hated
I remember waiting for an elevator at a store. When it opened, there was a woman waiting to get off. I was lost in some random thought, so I rudely went in before letting her out. I realized my error…