Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
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Spirituality
Dressing Well for Mass: A Matter of Humility, Not Vanity
Jim, Jim, I wore a tie today,The first one that I ever wore.You’d have said I looked like a dummy, Down at the dry goods store. That was country music legend Willie Nelson circa 1985. It was a duet with fellow legend Johnny Cash, who sang the second verse: Jim, Jim, the preacher said a lot of things...
Spirituality
From Gift to Disposal: Euthanasia, Suicide, and the Christian Meaning of Life
The debate over euthanasia and assisted suicide is often presented as a debate about compassion. Who, after all, wants people to suffer? Who wants the elderly, the disabled, the terminally ill, or the mentally anguished to endure pain without help? The language is powerful because it touches somethi...
Spirituality
Heed the Artists’ Warnings in the Machine Age
When ChatGPT first hit mainstream markets in 2022, it was the artists who began warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence. There is something about artists—whether painter, sculptor, graphic designer, iconographer, poet, writer, photographer, and others—being more in tune with reality at...
Spirituality
The World We Long For No Longer Exists
A couple years ago I bought a manual typewriter. I was in a slump in my writing and seeking some kind of creative, esoteric reboot, I suppose. There were things I wanted to write that I didn’t necessarily want online, or on the nebulous Cloud, or even on a hard drive, and so I thought perhaps going...
Spirituality
Sending the Flawed to Build the Eternal Kingdom: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus sends out seventy-two disciples on a missionary journey, granting them significant spiritual authority. Wasn’t that risky? Gospel (Read Lk. 10:1-12, 17-20) As Jesus traveled to Jerusalem from Galilee for the last time, St. Luke tells us He commissioned seventy-two disciples “whom He sent ahea...
Spirituality
America 250: The Most Patriotic College in the United States
In the mountain-town of Emmitsburg, Maryland, there is a historic school unfamiliar to most Americans. Its founding in 1808 is a direct consequence of 1776. Its founder, Fr. John Dubois, was mentored by James Monroe and Patrick Henry to unleash a new birth of freedom in a country weary from a long t...
Spirituality
The Fourth of July and Divine Providence
On July 4, 1776, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence. Both had worked hard together in producing it. Subsequently, Adams became the second American president while Jefferson followed him as the young country’s third. Both had a high regard for the Bible. “It is the...