Left

A few days ago, I went to my trusted Lebanese-American mechanic for an oil change. The Christians of the East have always had a penchant for discussing theology, politics, and race – and as far as theology is concerned, the Easterners have all the theology they could want to discuss and contest. My routine car service, therefore, usually turns into interesting discussions on theology, Church history, and – most recently – the state of persecuted Christians in the East. I guess this is one of the benefits of my being a Church historian. It happens that my mechanic was fresh back from Lebanon, which he had visited for his mother’s funeral. He had a lot to tell me about the persecution and harassment Lebanese Christians are suffering at the hands of the Muslim majority and about recent protes...

The love of Jesus saves because it has the power to bear away sin. The witness of the Holy Innocents shows us that the powerful of this world do not have the final say about humanity. At the end of the day, no matter how much violence is unleashed, Christ’s saving love will raise up the lowly and the powerless – even if they are as helpless as infants and children. Because of Christ, they suffered, but because of Him, they testify to something good and true about humanity – that the most vulnerable of our society to not admit of being used as a means to and end, that those who do so will never thwart the plan of God. For the saving power of God is greater than the power of evil. If the Savior has so much power over the affairs of the world, what about the movements of the...

ROME – Suppose that, looking back at the close of a decade, there were two great narratives about a given group of people, one a tale of scandal and dark deeds coming to light, the other a story of suffering, victimization, and vulnerability. Suppose, further, that the former storyline dominated global headlines, finishing as one of the most covered stories of the decade along with Donald Trump and climate change, while the other was second- or third-tier, with many average people not even aware it was happening. Suppose the scandal produced an Academy Award-winning movie that grossed $100 million worldwide, but the suffering had no movie, no anthem, no real pop culture footprint. That group might well have a beef, and Christmas 2019 has offered another grisly reminder of the point. On Dec...

It is not difficult to demonstrate that most of our modern problems center around struggles and misunderstandings regarding marriage, sexuality, and the family. Collectively as a nation and the culture, we have departed significantly from the teachings of God and common sense, when it comes to our thinking and behavior regarding these three fundamental pillars. Today’s Feast of the Holy Family presents us an opportunity to reflect, and provides a rich tapestry of Scriptures. Many of these teachings are not “politically correct,” but for that, no apology should be made. They remain God’s teachings and it is hard to argue that modern notions of sexuality, marriage and family have produced anything short of catastrophe and disaster. And as is usually the case, it is the children suffer the mo...

Celluloid glimpses of the Glory of God, from Miracle on 34th Street to Home Alone 2. So I was talking to Matt Swaim on the Son Rise Morning Show about G.K. Chesterton’s great appreciation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and he mentioned that many Christmas-themed movies feature conversions like Scrooge’s: he brought up The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or The Grinch as an example, and It’s a Wonderful Life. But as Turner Classic Movies and other cable stations are showing movies with Christmas settings, I began to think of many more Christmas conversions — changes of heart, family reconciliations, and renewed hope brought about by the “spirit of Christmas.” Even all those Hallmark Channel Christmas movies are about some kind of conversion: from career ...

As Ben Franklin once quipped, death is one of the only certainties in life. And with that certainty comes an endless supply of customers. Every year, 2.8m people die in the US. Around 40% of them opt to be buried — most commonly, in a casket. A $550m-per-year business, caskets make up a healthy portion of the much larger $20B death industry. The market for burials has never been more flooded with options. You can now spend your post-life years buried in a bodysuit fashioned out of mushrooms, in a pod that turns you into a tree, or in an IKEA-style casket you assemble yourself. Whatever your post-mortem niche, there’s probably a startup for it. But despite this abundance of businesses, efforts to re-envision the casket industry have largely fallen flat. That’s because today, the vast majori...

The Christmas Solemnity has distinct readings for four separate masses:  Vigil, Midnight, Dawn, and Day.  They stay the same from year to year, so below are my annual comments, only lightly revised.  Merry Christmas! Christmas Vigil Mass For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,until her vindication shines forth like the dawnand her victory like a burning torch. Nations shall behold your vindication,and all the kings your glory;you shall be called by a new namepronounced by the mouth of the LORD.You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,a royal diadem held by your God.No more shall people call you “Forsaken,”or your land “Desolate,”but you shall be called “My Delight,”and your land “Espoused.”For the LORD delights in youand ma...

The Prophet Isaiah, by Lorenzo Monaco (1405-10) As the end of Advent approaches, the Office of Readings features some final admonitions from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. On the one hand they console; on the other, they challenge us to remain firm. Isaiah addressed a people in exile who still awaited the first coming of the Lord. Today, these texts speak to us in difficult times when, exiled from Heaven, we await His magnificent Second Coming. Let’s look at these admonitions from the Lord (Isaiah 46:3-13), which were addressed to three different groups in ancient Israel. However, let’s apply them to three groups in our own times: the faithful remnant, the foolish rebels, and the fainthearted at risk. To the Faithful Remnant – Hear me, O house of Jacob, all who remain of the house of Isra...

COMMENTARY: Better preaching will increase the hunger and attentiveness to the word of God, and bring more people back to Mass. On Dec. 16, as Catholic clergy were in the heart of their Advent preparations for Christmas and getting ready to mount the pulpit for one of their most important preaching opportunities of the year, the Pew Research Center released an intriguing, first-of-its-kind study entitled, “The Digital Pulpit: A Nationwide Analysis of Online Sermons.” Using advanced computer technology, the study examined the websites of 38,630 Christian churches in the U.S., found 6,431 that publish audio or video recordings of the Sunday sermons and homilies in English and analyzed them, among other things, for length and vocabulary. The results were rather striking. First, the surve...