There are certain words in our Catholic faith that can become so familiar that we stop hearing the human story hidden inside them. Assumption. Queenship. Coronation. We see paintings of Mary floating above the clouds with angels surrounding her. A crown is placed upon her head. Christ sits upon His throne. Everything is gold and … Read more
There are houses we leave that somehow never quite leave us. Years can pass. Families change. People we love die. Rooms are remodeled. Someone else eventually sleeps in the bedroom that once belonged to us. And yet we can still walk through those houses in our memory. We remember how the light came through a … Read more
There are some saints whose lives are so extraordinary that, if I am being truthful, I sometimes have a hard time knowing what to do with them. St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of those saints. We know the ending of his story. Auschwitz and the starvation bunker. The condemned prisoner who cried out for his … Read more
What an ancient story, a new Matt Damon film, and my father’s bedtime voice taught me about the journey There are some books we remember because we read them and there are others we remember because someone we loved read them to us. For me, Homer’s Odyssey belongs to the second kind. Christopher Nolan’s new … Read more
I suppose there are easier ways to decide to write a book. Some people begin with an idea, perhaps a subject they have studied for years. Others have always dreamed of seeing their name on the cover of something. That really is not how 7 Reflections From the Edge of Death happened. In fact, for … Read more
“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” — Psalm 16:6 There are places in this world that seem to possess a soul of their own. Not because the soil itself is holy, the trees whisper secrets, or ghosts linger in forgotten corners. Rather, because God often … Read more
There is something deeply sacred about walking through a cemetery on Memorial Day. Nothing is rushed or distracted.There is no scrolling through headlines, advertisements, or noise. Just rows of stones beneath an open sky. The American flags flutter softly beside military markers. Fresh flowers rest against granite worn smooth by rain, wind, and generations of … Read more
I recently came across a beautiful idea found among some Native American traditions. In certain tribes, those entrusted with remembering the stories, histories, genealogies, and sacred memory of the people were sometimes referred to as firekeepers. The image has stayed with me ever since. A firekeeper was not merely someone who tended literal flames. The … Read more
There are moments in life that cannot be explained neatly. They can only be remembered with reverence. For me, one of those moments happened in November of 2020, during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was on a ventilator, in a coma, fighting COVID and bilateral pneumonia. I was not aware of … Read more
There is something almost unsettling about seeing an old photograph in color for the first time. A face you have only known in black and white suddenly seems closer. Skin tones emerge. Jackets and work shirts acquire texture and warmth. Eyes that once looked fixed in another century seem to belong to people who might … Read more
