I wouldn’t mind not believing in Heaven. The ancient Jews managed to do it, which is in itself a testimony to the validity of their religion: The most strict, most terrifying moral code in human history was followed without any promise of eternal reward. (If religion is the opium of the people, we are a masochistic people smoking some godawful opium.) But no matter how hard I try to conceptualize a merely finite life — a life without Heaven — I... Read more
“The hurricane blew away the sad, noxious particles which befoul the sorrowful old Eastern sky and Midge no longer felt obliged to keep her face stiff. They were able to talk. It was best of all when the hurricane’s eye came with its so-called ominous stillness. It was not ominous. Everything was yellow and still and charged up with value.” — The Last Gentleman, Walker Percy Sandy was undoubtedly a very bad thing, but our anticipation and witness of the hurricane... Read more
The Internet hath done wondrous deeds, but raising the intellectual bar cannot counted among them. This became clear when I realized the question man alone has the dignity to ask — Am I a creature or an accident? — is being answered by taking screenshots of our oppositions’ Facebook statuses, rebutting them in Impact font, and posting them in a forum appropriated for the caress of our preconceived notions and the heavy petting of our unexamined faith. In this climate... Read more
Silence is that terrifying state in which man is present to himself and to others. It is not merely the lack of sound, for it also encompasses interior silence — in which our frantic reels of thought and image cease — and stillness — in which nothing is done. When we are truly silent, we simply are. Now it’s a known fact that silence between strangers is an awkward silence. Why? Because neither stranger appreciates the other for who he is. Neither... Read more
It is considerably frustrating that Mr. Warhol was an ardent, believing, and practicing Ruthenian Rite Catholic. Such an immense failure of the intellect makes him impossible to idolize in precisely the manner we wish to idolize him: As a new-age, secular artiste, champion of unexamined homosexuality and all things hip, enemy of the repressed, the medieval, and the ancient. Now truly, Mr. Warhol was openly, undeniably gay, a laudable feat in a time less friendly to men with same-sex attraction. But... Read more
Jon O’Brien, el Presidento of that fantastic institution known as “Catholics For Choice” has made the equally fantastic claim that “Nobody Gets to Say Who Is and Who Is Not Catholic”. This is first and foremost odd, for if no one gets to say who is Catholic, then Jon certainly can’t name his institution “Catholic”. But he has, which means somebody — namely him — can say who is Catholic. (I do hope he — in his benevolent authority —... Read more
Between being told that Christianity is a system of oppression, a complex way to justify burning with hatred over the existence of gay people, and a general failure of the human intellect, I begin to suspect that few people know why Christians exist at all. This is my attempt to explain why I am a Christian. Any philosophy that claims that there exists nothing supernatural cannot grant purpose to suffering. If some natural, secular purpose could be granted to the... Read more
Beauty begets love. A flutter and twitch of female lashes can crush a man’s heart like a Bud Light can under a steamroller. A father who spends the day immersed in the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley returns by night with hugs for his children and a softer touch for his wife. Beauty begets love, as sunlight wakens sleepers, and I hope this an obvious experience, if not an obvious phrase. Love likewise begets beauty. Beautiful art is a “labor of love.”... Read more
I’ll keep it brief: Religious sisters are the greatest gift to mankind since beer. I myself felt called to be a nun before God directed me to a more lowly vocation. The Sisters of Life (I mention them in particular because I wrote their Wikipedia page) enflesh beauty. They radiate grace, joy, and peace from their very being. The world needs this kind of fiery charity and incredible feminism. The point of all this is simply to say: Let’s facilitate even... Read more
Works regarding the reception of Communion usually contain an unsettling air about them, if only because (a) Catholics tend to be dicks over these matters and (b) they point to a difference between Catholics at the precisely the moment when Catholics claim all accidental differences cease. It is the Church’s absurdly bold declaration that all become one in Christ. It follows that a notable difference in the reception of that very same Christ (in the Holy Eucharist) could be an... Read more
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