Why is Lent 40 days?Michael Pakaluk
Question: Why is Lent 40 days? Answer: Lent is 40 days for us because it is a time when we imitate Jesus, when he was led by the Spirit into the desert to fast and be tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1), ...
The eloquent ambiguity of 'I believe'Bishop Robert Barron
There is an eloquent ambiguity in the way in which the opening word of the Nicene Creed has come down to us. Our best evidence suggests that in the formula that goes back to the Nicene Fathers themselves, ...
You don't get what you pay forMichael Pakaluk
In the market, because better things are rarer and more widely sought after, in general you get what you pay for. If you want the best steak you must pay $30 per pound or more, and if you pay only $10 ...
The witness of a consecrated lifeBishop Robert Barron
Recently, the diary of a young North Korean soldier killed in Ukraine came to light. What attracted most commentary was the revelation that he and his unfortunate colleagues were being used, essentially, ...
What is enlightenment? -- among angels and usMichael Pakaluk
intellectual historian I once knew used to say that you can really break through to understanding a deep thinker, if, when you encounter some bizarre passage, instead of dismissing it, you try to figure ...
The 'Catena Aurea': Read the Gospel this Advent with St. Thomas AquinasMichael Pakaluk
Suppose this Advent you were resolved to start reading the Bible on a daily basis, as the saints have advised and Pope Francis is famous for recommending: "It is very beautiful to think of life with the ...
Focus on GodEffie Caldarola
There's a certain apprehension lying over the nation right now, a fear, an uneasiness, a sense of walking in the dark. It doesn't matter how you voted in the recent election. There are things ...
Some thoughts upon returning from the second session of the synodBishop Robert Barron
I returned just a few days ago from the second session of the Synod on Synodality in Rome, and I will confess to feeling a tad exhausted. As I've mentioned before, the synod is a full four weeks long, ...
The actual great transformationMichael Pakaluk
I smile and look back with gentle pity when I think of myself as a newly converted Christian at Harvard, huddled together on Friday evenings in Phillips Brooks House with other members of the InterVarsity ...
Reunions in graveyardsEffie Caldarola
How do you lose a casket? My friend hasn't figured that out, but eventually, as Julian of Norwich assures us, all was well. We lived in Alaska then, and my friend's widowed mother had joined ...
