“Not theory, but testimony.”

Today we need prophecy, but real prophecy: not fast talkers who promise the impossible, but testimonies that the Gospel is possible. […] It makes me sad when I hear someone say, ‘We want a prophetic Church.’ All right. But what are you doing, so that the Church can be prophetic? We need lives that show

the feast of the Presentation

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He

“This is the person Christ has loved in loving you”

More than others you can be compared to the Church. When you are in your room, then, at night, think always on Christ, and wait for his coming at every moment. This is the person Christ has loved in loving you, the person he has chosen in choosing you. He enters by the open door; he

Artemisia Gentileschi as Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1615–1617 Artemisia Gentileschi National Gallery, London Her eyes look away, as if thinking of a painful memory, yet there is a calm in her monumental pose. She’s got the strong, muscular arms Artemisia always gave the women in her paintings and as she ponders the past, the fingers

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz on Saint Catherine of Alexandria

De una Mujer se convencen todos los Sabios de Egipto, para prueba de que el sexo no es esencia en lo entendido. ¡Víctor, víctor! Prodigio fue, y aun milagro; pero no estuvo el prodigio en vencerlos, sino en que ellos se den por vencidos. ¡Víctor, víctor! ¡Qué bien se ve que eran Sabios en confesarse

Psalm 76:10-11a

Men’s anger will serve to praise you; its survivors surround you with joy. Make vows to your God and fulfill them. Psalm 76:10-11a

Lessons from Valladolid: On Being Decent in an Indecent Age

When a Christian is caught between a political economy hostile to human flourishing and a Church all too often comfortable with the status quo, it is demoralizing to have recourse to an ugly, embattled public square. Who wants to have life-or-death debates in a cold professional setting? In what universe is pitting hostile voices against

a prayer for exam season

Shut your laptop, look up at the sky or ceiling, and say Christ is risen. The most momentous thing that will ever happen to you and everyone you love has already happened and it is happening every day on altars around the world. Term papers are nothing. Alleluia. —the priest at chapel mass this afternoon

Writing in Public (on Purpose) at W&L | Scholars— Lab

You know how sometimes a friend will comment on an old profile picture on Facebook so that it’s at the top of everyone’s news feed and suddenly all your college friends know what you looked like when you were 14 and a mess? Well, having had a blog and a public Twitter since I was

Cowboy, Engineer, Saint: On the Trail of St. José Brochero

Casa de Ejercicios (Museo Brocheriano) Villa del Tránsito/Cura Brochero, Córdoba, Argentina July 2017 I wrote about my trip to Villa Cura Brochero for America here: The poncho-wearing, cheroot-smoking José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero is often reduced to his nickname: the gaucho (cowboy) priest. In his native Argentina, however, Brochero is known for much more than his