You Cannot Fail: Learning to Grow Through Our Faults

Deriving profit from our faults is one of the most important topics in the spiritual life. It is quite certain that, in the designs of God, the faults into which He permits us to fall ought to serve for our sanctification,...

Courage

This post is part of the ongoing #FultonFridays featuring the writings of Ven. Fulton Sheen.  Goodness, patriotism, honesty and loyalty are losing their battles not by conflict, but by default. Those who are called to be defenders of what is right...

Build a Bonfire for the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

There’s just something about men and fire. We love it. The snapping wood angrily spitting sparks. The hypnotic dance of the flames. The pulsing glow of light filling the dark night. The warmth of matter turned into energy. It’s all a bit...

The Essential Presence of a Father

Recently, at the park with my wife and son, I witnessed one of the saddest sights I’ve seen in a long time. A little boy, about five or six, was there with his dad. Normally, this would be a wonderful thing,...

St. Francis de Sales: A Profile in Courage

St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church, was one of the greatest evangelists and most powerful confessors during the Counter-Reformation. His writings on Catholic spirituality still inspire the faithful today and his words still resonate across the centuries. Yet there...

The Most Unpopular Commandment

Of all Jesus commandments, there is one that is more unpopular than any other. It’s the one commandment where I’ve heard people say that Jesus didn’t really mean what he said. I’ve even heard more excuses for this sin than for...

Living for Likes: The Danger of Living to Please Others

As a blogger, one of the biggest temptations is to become fixated on likes, shares, and views, and to write everything so that it gets the most of them possible. Social media and the internet provide the ultimate feedback system,...

Food as a Defender of Culture

Of the myriad heavenly and earthly themes that season the epic poem The Odyssey, one of the most central is the meal. Homer uses eating, drinking, and the customs surrounding meals as a touchstone of character that reflects a person’s inmost nature. Thus is...

I Hate NFP (But Need it Anyway)

Have you ever noticed how NFP (Natural Family Planning for the uninitiated) is marketed? It’s sold with glossy photos of couples holding hands and dancing in flower-filled meadows, their faces plastered with blissful grins. It will make you so much more intimate!...