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Recently, Pope Francis announced the imminent canonization of a number of Beati, or “blesseds”—including Br Charles de Foucauld. He’s not quite on the level of Cardinal Newman or Francis of Assisi or Ignatius Loyola in my personal pantheon of inspired witnesses, but he’s close. Why do I revere him? Why would I want to be at his canonization?

These are random (or not so random) thoughts that I want to share with everyone.

So: Jesus is kalos—beautiful, worthy of imitation, a model. Are we ready also to imitate Him, to let Him be our model? Are we ready to be beautiful?

Let me repeat: if the Resurrection is true, then the Incarnation is true, and the Eucharist is true. And I can pretty well demonstrate to you that the Resurrection is true. “They came to know Him in the breaking of the bread.” Do we?

This weekend we celebrate Divine Mercy—the incomprehensible gift of love that comes to us from God—Father, Son, & Spirit. One of the prayers before Communion at Mass expresses it in this way: “…by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit, through [the Son’s] death [you] gave life to the world…” Our redemption is specifically through Christ, but it is the work of the Blessed Trinity.

Easter has arrived: the day of our salvation in the risen Christ. I want to share some poems with you to celebrate this greatest of days. They come from the 17th century Anglican clergyman and poet, George Herbert. First: “Easter”—

Holy Week is upon us—the most sacred, solemn, and important time of our entire liturgical year. It is the time of marking our atonement and salvation in Christ.

It’s a simple enough request, on the surface: we’d like an introduction to your Master for a get-to-know conversation—can you arrange this for us, please?

Everyone who knows me knows that Assisi is probably my favorite place on earth. I’ve been there well over 60 times (and by “times” I mean at least one overnight). And, Lord willing, I’ll be heading there again this April after Easter. Why? It’s because there I find rest in the Lord like I find in just about nowhere else.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies. Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them…well I have others. The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

The 20th century composer Arnold Schoenberg wrote a beautiful piece entitled Verkärte Nacht—“The Transfigured Night.” Originally it was a chamber piece for string sextet, later expanded to be played by a full string orchestra. I know you don’t care, but my recordings of these pieces are by the Juilliard String Quartet and Friends, and by the Chicago Symphony with Daniel Barenboim.

I hope and pray that the day after most of you see this essay, I’ll be “under the knife” (finally!) for the repair of a hernia. This surgery has been postponed since the end of January, as (again) most of you know. It’s not life-threatening (I’m not having a heart valve replaced), but it is necessary. I’ll take a couple of days to recoup, and after that, I expect to be back at full strength.

Married or not, the answer is not in our state of life but in the state of our adherence to Christ.

Pretty well everyone knows that “Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday.” But this year is different (and hopefully will be the only year so marked). So I’m thinking we should call this coming Tuesday the title of this essay: “Thin Tuesday.” And honestly, I don’t think that’s such a bad idea, after all.

There are two Greek words that are of importance this weekend (even though only one features in the Scriptures for Mass): dynamis and exousia: “power” and “authority.” The latter word has special meaning in this weekend’s Gospel excerpt. We need to see their inter-relationship.

This Monday is marked by the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul. It also marks (among other things; more later on that) the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There is a definite connection here—let’s explore it.

We have moved from the celebrational seasons of Advent and Christmas to “Ordinary Time.”  This is what the official description says about it:            Besides the times of the year that have their own distinctive character...

Today’s Feast is a joy-filled one, and a very gentle and peace-filled one (to those who don’t know “the rest of the story” at this point).  It’s especially beautiful when one learns that Epiphany once marked THREE events:  the Magi, the Baptism, and the Wedding at Cana...

The word “epiphany” is a virtual transliteration from the Greek word for “revelation” or “manifestation.”  It’s not an accident that our Liturgy celebrates 3 such events in succession (and once upon a time, all on the same day):  the visit of the Magi, the Baptism, and the Wedding at Cana...

The earliest images I have had of the Holy Family came from prayer cards that were (shall we say?) idealized:  Joseph gently rocking a plane over a board, Mary sitting and knitting, Jesus playing with the wood curls Joseph was creating.  One detail still stands out in my memory—not a one of them was breaking a sweat.  Somehow, I think there’s a disconnect between that image and the lived reality.  Even Norm Abrams breaks a sweat, and he has a table saw and powered lathe…