Art has a story — beginning in prehistoric caves, reaching rational perfection in classical culture, soaring to heaven in the Middle...

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash We count our years from the birth of Christ, and Christmas begins the year of the Lord 2023. The secular practice of making a resolution for the new year can find deeper meaning when connected to the birth of the savior. The focus on presents and cheer can overshadow the Christmas feast’s great transformative power. A resolution for the new year should begin at the manger, asking Jesus to draw us into the grace of his birth, as we reflect on

Hundreds of pro-abortion demonstrators tried to block a monthly pro-life march and prayer vigil at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Lower Manhattan on July 2, 2022, setting off a tense confrontation. (Photo by Jeffrey Bruno/CNA) Catholics are not winning any popularity contests. Not only do we still face fallout from the abuse crisis, we also now regularly hear accusations of “hate” for our stances on life and sexual morality. We certainly have a long fight ahead of us

Allegory of the Eucharist, Alexander Coosemans, ca. 1641. The Eucharist is a great work of cooperation. We supply the matter — the bread and wine, which is not simply natural material, but the produce of human work and culture — that God then transforms into the Body and Blood of Christ. Bread and wine are so central to the history of human culture that they could even be more simply expressed as “food” and “drink.” Although we see wine as an extraneous pleasure or something

Within this multiyear Eucharistic Revival, we should not only foster devotion to the sacrament we recognize as the source and summit of our faith, but we must also remove the obstacles that keep us from benefiting from this “medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch, “Letter to the Ephesians,” c. 100AD). We believe that we have found the true medicine that recreates us, transforming us into what we consume, the very body of our Creator, and, therefore, must oppose all

Due its divisiveness, it can be tempting to avoid the topic of politics altogether within the Church and instead focus on the seemingly less controversial issues of faith and spirituality. To avoid politics, however, would not be Christian. This is not because the Kingdom of God seeks to set itself up as a political regime, as this would vastly diminish its eternal power. Rather, Christians cannot avoid politics because faith cannot be restrained within any confines, politica

Vittore Carpaccio, Saint Augustine in His Study, 1507. On the 28th of August, we celebrated the feast day of the great St. Augustine, the anniversary of the day he died in the year 430 A.D. His name providentially points to his august status in the Church as one of the greatest theologians in her history. We love him for another reason, however. More than any other figure in history, we can follow Augustine’s inner life, tracing the steps of his conversion, thinking through h

“If we achieve great things outside of ourselves, and the achieving of them does not effect any change or development in ourselves, we have done nothing. Life’s purpose is to purify us, not gratify us .” So says Father Edward Leen reflecting on “the triumph of failure,” the way in which God’s work in the soul, and correspondingly in the world, cannot be judged on the surface (see his book In the Likeness of Christ ). Judged rightly, Leen tells us that “there is nothing so sad

Photo by Richard Stracke | CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Faith does not depend upon our own reasonings and feelings. It responds to the revelation of God, which exceeds all of our own capacities. On our own, we could not know God and could have no certainty of supernatural realities. This includes our happiness, which is not found in the realization of any earthly good; it is found in God himself, transcending every finite thing, including our own selves. Faith draws us to salvation by ope

Photo by specphotops | Unsplash It’s amazing what happens in what many people call “flyover” country, where many Catholics quietly are going about the work of rebuilding in the nation’s heartland. On a recent road trip through Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, my family explored a corridor running through the center of the country, home to many vibrant communities that can serve as models in our efforts to live the faith and share its beauty. Setting out from Den

Photo by John Winder via Flickr | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 It is easy to forget that the Catholic Church is composed of 24 self-governing Churches with distinct liturgical rites. We lose sight of this because the Latin Church, which worships according to the Roman Rite, comprises the overwhelming majority of Catholics throughout the world. The war in Ukraine has put the spotlight on one of these 24 churches: the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with 5.5 million adherents, led by one of

Pope Francis has repeatedly called attention to what he views as a growing rejection of the Second Vatican Council. Speaking to editors of European Jesuit journals on May 19, he related this view: “It is very difficult to see spiritual renewal using old-fashioned criteria. We need to renew our way of seeing reality, of evaluating it … Restorationism has come to gag the Council. The number of groups of ‘restorers’ — for example, in the United States there are many — is signif

picture of Ultrasound of baby in mother's womb. 24 week. “What is truth?” (Jn 18:28). Pilate speaks for many today, even as Truth itself stood before him. We as Catholics have accepted a basic definition of truth: the conformity of the mind to reality. We know the truth if we understand the nature of things, making proper judgments about what is and is not correct about the world and ourselves. Getting things right can even be a matter of life and death. Truth has been eclips

Photo by Rock Li via Wikicommons If the Church is to continue to be Christ’s presence in the world, then part of that mission includes continuing his sacrifice. I recently wrote about the sacrificial witness of the priest in the face of modern oppression, giving examples such as Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận and Servant of God Walter Ciszek. The reality, however, is that this witness continues right now throughout the world. Priests, religious and members of the lay faithful are

Photo by K Mitch Hodge on Unsplash We are not used to thinking about owing anything to God. In many ways, religion has become focused on “me,” going to Church therapeutically to feel good about oneself. In reality, we owe God everything. Religion, traditionally understood, sought to render to God the worship, homage and thanksgiving that was due to him as God, the one who made us, cares for us and saves us. In Catholic theology, this was understood as an expression of justice

Photo from Fr. Walter J. Ciszek Facebook Page The evils of the 20th century hold a strange fascination. We cannot help but read and reread accounts of totalitarian oppression, such as Elie Wiesel’s Night , Anne Frank’s Diary, Viktor Frankl’s profound Man’s Search for Meaning , and Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago . Something about these experiences, primarily relating to the horrors of Naziism and Communism, speaks deeply to the resiliency of the human spirit that c

Lent has a clear focus – doing penance to prepare for the Resurrection – although it can be harder to focus on spiritual growth during the Easter season. It is a time of fruitfulness, although the experience of the joy and freedom of the season is conditional. If we have died to ourselves in Lent, then we can experience the new life of the Resurrection: “The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him” (2

Are Catholic schools places of refuge or centers for mission? Many people may come to our schools simply to escape the negative influences of the culture or the ideology permeating public schools. Even so, when they arrive, they should find a mission-focused community of disciples, living out an apostolic mandate to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Even if enrollment at a Catholic school cannot make the negative influences of the culture disappear, as places where Jesus i

Photo by Nheyob via Wikicommons “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” Our Lady of Fatima offered hope in the Second Secret she revealed in 1917 that despite the horrific onslaught hitting the world, including “war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father,” her heart would still conquer all. While Russia would spread her errors throughout the world, she called on Catholics to counter its socialist ideology with intensified prayer and sacrifice.

Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, Raphael, 1509-10. Theology gets a bad rap, often seen as a bunch of eggheads asking questions that no one really cares about. In the Middle Ages, it revolved around how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, or so the legend goes. Today it focuses on doctrinal subtleties and commandments that most people would rather do away with. Theology matters, however, because truth matters. God is Truth and he has revealed himself to us so that