What would it look like if we lived like we are children of God? Wouldn’t everything look different? Our culture, relationships, even our politics? Each week, I do at least one interview about my latest novel, Plausible Liars. There is a commonality among the interviewers’ questions about the unusual title: my explanation of its origin […]
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Religion begins with experience Religion does not start out with the notion of God. It starts with a personal experience, the overwhelming experience of ultimate belonging. Religion of the Heart Two pictures side by side in one frame hang on the wall of our Texas home. They reveal two views of a snowy cross-country skiing mountain
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It’s June: Thinking About Time and Death It’s June, why aren’t you writing about excellent graduation speeches? I planned to do just that, even had a few graduation speeches selected for consideration, until Monday’s walk with Seymour and John’s comment about my second chance. Monday was June 1st. While putting my dog Seymour’s collar and
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Knowledge is power The phrase, knowledge is power, is a well-known mantra. One that, for some, is unquestioned. It was Sir Roger Bacon who first wrote ipsa scientia potestas est in his Meditations. But much earlier, the Book of Proverbs attests to the strength of the wise man and the man with knowledge. The voices
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It is good for us to be here: Transfiguration The Transfiguration is the last miracle performed by Christ, marking the end of his days on earth. Peter, James and John are invited by Christ up to the peak of the mountain to pray. For weeks, he has warned his disciples that the Son of Man
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The empty sanctuary of ordinary time. The churches were glorious during this Christmas season. For more than twenty days, the poinsettias stayed vibrant, and outside Saint Matthew’s Church in San Antonio, the soaring tribute to the Triune God became, literally, a tower of light. Now, emptied of Christmas decorations, the empty sanctuaries are stark. The
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On the Strange Symmetry of Beauty and Death By contemplating the beauty and use of each thing, [a man] is filled with love for the Creator. He surveys all visible things: the sky, the sun, moon, stars and clouds, rain, snow and hail … the four-legged animals, the wild beasts and animals and reptiles, all the
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What is Christmas? King Ahaz “wearies” not just men but the Lord. We hear his name three times at this time of year: In the daily liturgy of Wednesday, December 17th in the genealogy of Jesus Christ: “…Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah…” That so unbelievably colorful and earthy lineage of Abraham and
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The blood of the church: love Just as the human heart must have blood to maintain life, so must the church have love to live. The metaphors are not mine but Madeleine Debrel’s, Venerable Madeleine Debrel. The blood of the church: love. She was a poet, this French mystic who poured out her life for
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Feast of Christ the King of the Universe: The Holiness of Ordinary People Just a few moments of reflection about the state of the world in 1925 compels us to stop. And think very hard about the inspiration which led Pope Pius Xl to proclaim the Sunday ending the liturgical year in the Christian liturgy as the
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