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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STOP In The Name Of GOD: WHY? Only after my read of Charlie Kirk’s last book of that name, do I fully grasp the Sunday commandment and why I vow to abstain from unnecessary work or cause others to work on the Lord’s Day. So when God delivers Israel and gives them the Sabbath, He
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Giving- Do you still not understand? Tuesday’s Gospel, the day before Lent began, functioned as a bellwether for these forty days of Lent. It’s so for two reasons: a meditation and a homily. Tuesday’s Gospel reading was Saint Mark: Mark 8:14-21 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with
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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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The world: The Great Yes and the Great No It’s a cryptic but arresting phrase, isn’t it: The great yes and the great no? I tripped on it while searching for something online a couple of weeks ago. After listening twice to a twelve-year-old homily of Bishop Barron’s called—you guessed it—The Great Yes and the
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Don’t blame the devil Soon after my conversion to Catholic Christianity, I discovered Saint Teresa of Avila. And I fell in love with her. Upon examining that statement, I realize it’s not hyperbole, but truth. Why? Among countless reasons, at this writing, it’s Saint Teresa’s admonition against blaming the devil for my weakness, laziness, and
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The razor’s edge of forgiveness “Forgive your enemies. “ Since forgiveness was just as unnatural 2100 years ago as it is now, the Apostle Peter seeks to bind it. You will recall that Peter was a pious Jew and knew the Mosaic law. The law from Leviticus, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and in both
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