We Adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross you have redeemed the world. When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” The pain is beyond all telling. This is the worst punishment the Romans had ever devised, and they’d... Read more
I have never in my life seen a review of a book review. I imagine that, if one’s book is reviewed, the proper etiquette is to smile pleasantly at the free publicity, take any criticism on the chin, and collect the royalty check. I think this would particularly be the case if one was reviewed in such a balanced and just way as Sam Rocha reviewed Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option. Sam clearly didn’t like the book, but reviewed it in... Read more
It’s just under two week til Easter! Are you ready? Have you stocked up on eggs? Baked your babka? Been to confession? Looked up the times for liturgies and services at your church? Twice, because there’s always that one disastrous typo in the bulletin? Tipped your favorite blogger? Oh, you didn’t know that tipping your favorite blogger was a Holy Week tradition? Well, how about we start a new one? Michael and I are very fortunate to have this blog and... Read more
I grew up in a bubble. Earlier this week, in his review of The Benedict Option, my friend Sam mentioned a bit about the bubbles he grew up in; my friend Justin mentions the Evangelical Bubble in one of his pieces as well. It seems that I’m always talking about the bubble I, personally, grew up in, but for those of you just joining us: I was raised for a few years as part of a Charismatic Catholic “community” and then... Read more
Somehow, all of my friends are reading Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option. I’m not. I was homeschooled on the Planet Charismatic, and later on the Planet Random-Stodgy-Traditional, for many years and then moved to Steubenville; talk of people taking their families and retreating from the world into community with other Christians gives me spasms. Reading the Amazon book description alone is making me shudder. This is no reflection on The Benedict Option. I confess that, until my friend Father Stephanos explained in his... Read more
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. We were told the Bridegroom would come at an hour we knew not. It turns out that the hour is a little before Noon,... Read more
It seems like a long time ago, now. She was one of the pious women of the Latin Catholic parish, and a member of a certain prayer community I’d tried to join. She was older than me and much richer, respectable, ladylike and a thousand other things I could never hope to be. I thought she was nice. I wanted to be like her. She was in charge of my spiritual formation as a new member of the group; she was going to teach... Read more
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world. But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; assailants gathered against me without my knowledge. They slandered me without ceasing. Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked; they gnashed their teeth at me. He is exhausted. Do you know what it is, to be exhausted? Not merely very tired, but exhausted? To be exhausted is to have nothing left. He can’t walk... Read more
Who is Steve Skojec? Just over a year ago I was a grumpy, opinionated person with no Patheos blog to my name, and I had no idea. I also didn’t know who Austin Ruse or Novus Ordo Watch was. I thought Frank Pavone was a devout and sincere priest with whom I had minor disagreements. I barely even knew what The Remnant was, and the same for The Lepanto Institute. I ignored LifeSite. Blogging has been quite an education. In any... Read more
About two weeks ago I wrote a post partially about Leticia Adams, who lost her son Anthony to suicide the day before. I shared the crowdfund for her son’s funeral expenses then, and I’m sharing it again now. Leticia reports that the funeral has been held and donations on the crowdfund has tapered off; however, she, Anthony’s fiancee and his two daughters are struggling with trauma and in desperate need of a counselor. Their insurance doesn’t currently cover what it will... Read more
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