Little Wonders

Did you know: Before Helen was taken from Sparta to Troy–even before she was married to king Menelaus–while she was still a girl, she was abducted by Theseus? Theseus gave her to his mother to take care of her, until she would be old enough for him to marry. But Helen’s brothers Castor and Pollux [...]

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Personal with the Popes

Dear reader, perhaps you remember St. Polycarp Day, February 23. Maybe you recall our little discussion about the difference between choosing death and embracing martyrdom. Today is the Commemoration of the “troublesome priest” who did not seek death, but embraced martyrdom when it came. We cannot recommend too highly LRS Hall-of-Famer T.S. Eliot’s play about [...]

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Three Points for Holy Family

Three little points about the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. I. The Law of Moses stipulated that the Jews of old were to go up to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple three times a year. The trip on foot from Nazareth to Jerusalem was long. It took a few days. It [...]

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Sheep’s Gate Neighborhood

Happy Feast of Stephen! The home of Sts. Joachim and Ann–our Lady’s parents–was in the northeast corner of ancient Jerusalem. Jerusalem is less than a day’s journey from Bethlehem. Perhaps the Holy Family rested today in the home where the Blessed Virgin grew up. St. Stephen was martyred right outside the Sheep Gate of the [...]

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Christmas Beat-Down

Let me just say this: If you push the Pope, and I am anywhere within fifty yards, you are going to have a bloody nose real fast. Then you are going to get your BUTT WHUPPED. Then, and only then, will we pause to determine the state of your “mental stability.” No pushing our Holy [...]

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The Bridegroom Comes

Here is a Christmas homily for you: My heart overflows with noble words. To the king I must speak the song I have made… You are the fairest of the children of men… Gird your sword upon your thigh… Ride on in triumph for the cause of truth and goodness and right… A scepter of [...]

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Wake Up Call

Expergiscere, homo! It’s time for Christmas! …Did Chris Wright score a game-high, career-high 34 points yesterday afternoon? Yes, he did! Rich Chvotkin had the line of the day: “Whatever your were going to give Chris Wright for Christmas, double it.” …Pope Benedict’s encyclical on hope is really a meditation on the following dialogue, which occurs [...]

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Perfect Offering

Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord. –Malachi 3:4 Today is a great day to say Holy Mass. One of the prayers the priest prays today includes: “You have given us this memorial [the Mass] as the perfect form of worship.” He gave us the Mass on Holy Thursday, of course–so [...]

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Endless Skyway

My latest favorite subject is the new George Clooney movie. My favorite part is the end. My second-favorite part is the opening cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” In his jumbled essay about ‘Up in the Air,’ George Will refers to this song as a “hymn to Depression-era radicalism.” So let’s clear [...]

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Happiness is a Sharp Pencil

We do not want to dwell on the painful loss suffered by the Georgetown Hoyas yesterday evening, as the snow swirled around McDonough Arena. And most of us men on the Eastern Seaboard need something to take our minds off our sore snow-shoveling backs. So let’s rejoice in this: On December 21, 1913, the New [...]

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