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Home › Articles › Contributors › Intention Matters: Baptized by the Water and the (Right) Words One of the most beautiful aspects of our Catholic faith is its strong incarnational basis. That is, “incarnational” in the sense of relating in a tangible, concrete way to physical “fleshly” beings such as ourselves. This is especially evident in the centrality of the sacraments in the life of the Church. All sacraments, by definition, involve both “matter”—i.e. physical “stuff,” such as the bread and wine used in the Eucharist and even the sound waves involved in speaking aloud one’s sins in the sacrament of penance—and “form,” the proper prayers to be said during a sacrament’s celebration.  Recently, a priest in Arizona made headlines when he resigned after admitting to having attempted t...

In this desert scene, the Lord Jesus faces down three fundamental areas of temptation, all of which have one thing in common: they seek to substitute a couch for the cross. In a way, the devil has one argument: “Why the cross?” His question is a rhetorical one. He wants you to blame God for the cross, and in your anger, to reject Him as some sort of despot. Well, pay attention, Church! The cross comes from the fact that you and I, ratifying Adam and Eve’s choice, have rejected the tree of life in favor of the tree that brought death. We, along with the devil, may wish to wince at the cross and scornfully blame God for it, but in the end the cross was our choice. If you think that you have never chosen the tree of death and that God is “unfair,” then prove to me that you have never sinned. ...

If you’ve not been in the Vatican basilica on February 22, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, by all means put that on your bucket list. Not only is February 22 the day when the statue of the Prince of the Apostles, with its famously worn-down bronze foot, is clothed in a splendid cope and crowned with a papal tiara, it’s also the only day on which the Altar of the Chair, the massive sculptural composition in the basilica’s apse, is ablaze with the light of over a hundred tapers. Better still is to get into the basilica as early as possible and watch the acrobatic Sanpietrini, the basilica’s maintenance staff, swinging from ropes and clambering about as they place and then light those six-foot tall candles, which remain lit all day. It took 124 years, from 1506-1626, to build “...

As with many wars, the Russian invasion of Ukraine changes constantly. Areas of attack and tactics alter, battlefields appear suddenly in previously quiet areas, kinetic places go silent. It all means that to report on events, you accept at the outset that your plans will change. We set off cautiously for the town of Bucha, where a Russian convoy had been destroyed by the Ukrainian army the previous day. Trusted contacts in the town told us it was quiet and promised to show us the convoy and tell us about what had happened. War in Ukraine – live updates on the Russian invasion Even as we left central Kyiv through a city now being strengthened with extra soldiers, past motorways and major roads where volunteers were digging trenches, and the army were positioning Howitzer cannons for ...

Happy Friday friends, It’s the first Friday in Lent, so I hope you’re getting into the spirit of the occasion.  Catholics, as a people, take fasting and abstinence seriously — it’s one of the things we’re good at. And it isn’t something we should feel backward about. But neither should we give into the caricature that the Church just wants us to be a bit miserable, from time to time, because it’s good for us.  On the contrary, we all need to spend time in the desert, metaphorically, seeking for God, straining to listen to Him in our lives, and learning and relearning the truth that we do not and cannot live on bread alone, or on barbecue, however much we may like to try. Lent is also, fundamentally, a time of spiritual warfare, and preparation for the explosive victory that is Ea...

As the world watches Ukraine right now, keep your eyes on Poland.  Poland has had a special place in the history of the last 100 years, from turning back Russian communists at the Miracle on the Vistula in 1920 onward through World War II and the Cold War. I call Poland “the fulcrum.” Critical events of the last century pivoted around Poland. That also meant that Poland, the most Catholic country in Europe, suffered terribly, unlike any other. Not only did its Catholics suffer, but its Jews especially. Prior to Hitler’s madness, Poland had more Jews than any nation, including what was then called Palestine. Ronald Reagan called it “the martyred nation of Poland.” He called it that to the world’s most famous Pole, Pope John Paul II, during their first meeting together in June 1982, und...