I am not familiar with comedian Michael Jr.’s work, but if this YouTube video (embedded below) is at all representative, I may just become a fan. Michael Jr., videocamera in hand at his daughter’s birth, preserved something pretty phenomenal. Watch his daughter’s reaction to his voice – twice – as she lay crying and uncomfortable. Her response is, indeed, pretty awesome. But here’s Michael Jr.’s even more awesome take away: We’ll always have times when we’re not as comfortable . .... Read more

There are so many of them. A torrent of fresh faces, Numb, panicked, silenced. Images bloodied, Dissolving, inseparable, into one. Their young bodies absorbing A seething hatred with every bullet. Casualties in a deadly conflict long underway. A world war on a path uncertain, Even to those who now wage it.   There are so many of them. A torrent of hidden faces, Trained, angry, set loose. Consumed by a blood revenge, They unleash their hate with every bullet, Destroying young... Read more

On April 18, 1962, during Holy Week – at a time when the United States was contemplating the resumption of nuclear testing – Connecticut Representative Frank Kowalski rose to offer his colleagues a simple prayer for the preservation of mankind. That prayer, submitted upon unanimous consent, became an official part of the Congressional Record. That this retired Colonel understood issues surrounding war and peace, both, is manifest. He served in the European Theater during WWII, and later as the Chief Military Governor... Read more

We battle against not only the agony of destruction, carnage, and death everywhere now around us, but also with our own response. Soon enough, paralysis overwhelms the horror; itself replaced, swiftly, by despair. Then, anger. An anger sweet, and pure, and righteous, and human. An anger cold enough to unsheathe our courage, yet hot enough to stir us forward. Courage demands that all things be made right again. And it will make it so – or die in the trying.... Read more

As the days compress, And light makes quick work of its retreat, As fall begins its fated descent, Reminders abound that our hours are numbered, And only One knows the time, the place, the reason. That uncertainty is the only given, Grants us permission, To seize each day, or even just a moment, And to linger a bit longer within it. Exchanging clenched fists, For the touch of another’s hand. Surrendering ourselves completely, And thereby finding life. Peace Image Credit: Wikimedia... Read more

Over at Aleteia, I briefly unpack how my sudden but great affection for Pope Francis has grown over the past two years in at least one unexpected way – coming to terms with my previous wholesale dismissal of Benedict as merely some cold, dark, brooding, loveless enforcer of doctrine: Francis’ humble first steps forced my attention back to Rome. As comprehension and appreciation deepened, I came finally to understand the man, and the pastor, whom Francis still so often references.... Read more

It overwhelms me. But only sometimes. My faulty imagining over the years that with each new undertaking, some unspoken promise would always and somehow tag along and carry the day. That such promises actually existed was a given; that went without saying. In the workplace, there was the unspoken promise of business success. In the home, one of an ever-lasting love without any need of real effort (as if somehow to be supernaturally sustained). And, as I watch youthfulness now... Read more

Sometimes, we need to take a step back. Sometimes, we need to look at our lives afresh. To close our eyes. To start over. To begin again. As if for the first time. But only this time, perhaps, with breathtaking passion and extravagant gratitude. We may even try to pretend that everything that came before really didn’t matter, really didn’t make any difference. But even as we do, we cannot help but lug around the accumulated wisdom wrested from difficult... Read more

I refuse to link to them. The recent Synod-inspired doctrinal (some would label them merely pastoral) controversies between certain self-proclaimed, super-credentialed, academic Catholic elites, several of whom have displayed an astonishingly high tolerance for censorship, and others, mostly in the blogosphere, who have both called them out and have returned rapid, if not always accurate, fire. Clergy against clergy, blogger against blogger, columnist against everyone else, it has been both an instructive exercise as well as a deeply disturbing one. Instructive because it has helped to... Read more