Such glory in the readings today — the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord! Such glory. These readings bring us to the threshold of heaven: to the Ancient One on his throne, the Ancient of Days, in Daniel’s vision in the first reading,...

This extended holiday weekend I’m sure many of us are planning or hoping to get together with family and friends for cookouts or shared meals. Maybe watching fireworks; maybe setting some off. (Don’t tell me; I don’t want to know!) Some will be...

Earlier this month there was a short-lived scare when a story appeared online with the headline “Breaking: Vatican City Bombing,” with a photo showing thick clouds of black smoke rising above the Vatican. The story implied that Islamist...

Note: By a special gift of God, Pentecost this year falls on the first anniversary of my ordination to the permanent diaconate. My pastor, who never forgets a birthday or an anniversary, graciously asked me to preach on this great...

Oh please. Not another “option.” Not another half-thought-out counterproposal to the Benedict Option to add to the heap, along with the Francis Option, the Dominic Option, the Augustine Option, the 

Yesterday the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty released a statement announcing that a Christian business owner finally won a case brought against him by gay plaintiffs alleging a civil rights violation:  A Kentucky court championed free speech...

A recent post at Atlas Obscura has drawn attention to the fact that C.S. Lewis and his friend J.R.R. Tolkien both saw, and both disliked, Walt Disney’s masterpiece Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. To anyone familiar with Tolkien and Lewis’s...

This is the prepared text for my homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, preached at the 10:30 AM Mass at St. John’s in Orange, New Jersey. Some of the thoughts here were inspired by an essay on “The Necessity of the Resurrection” by my daughter...

The Cartesian idea of the spirit or soul as a disembodied presence merely using or occupying a body, rather than the two being integrally connected, is a cardinal principle in transhumanism, the ultimate goal of which is to transcend the...

Note: This is my prepared text for the homily I gave at the Vigil Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Lent. — SDG This weekend is a double celebration. As the rose vestments attest, this is the Laetare Sunday Vigil, “laetare” meaning “Rejoice!” in...