“He who conquers himself is greater than he who conquers a city.”

That maxim has been attributed to several people, most notably Solomon, son of King David, from whose dynasty Christ the Lord entered humanity.  The man who repeated the…

In my last summer of college I lived in a cabin at the base of a mountain in New Hampshire.  Every morning I hiked to the summit to watch the sun rise.  Once I reached the top of the mountain,…

It happens every year.  Catholics worldwide line up inside churches, chapels, oratories, basilicas, and cathedrals to receive the smudge of ashes traced upon their foreheads in the shape of the cross.  Outwardly this sign of faith demonstrates the solidarity of…

Mr. Reznicki was my high school social studies teacher.  He was also a bit of a relationship counselor.  He taught us two things I remember:  The first was about love and marriage.  One day in class the subject…

A young man came out of Appalachia with one goal: to become a millionaire.  He made a deal with the devil but it was the devil who laughed his way to the bank.  In 1929, the stock market…

How do we prepare ourselves to receive the Word of God when we come to Church on Sunday?  Do we show the same reverence for the Holy Scriptures as we do for the Body of our Lord? …

Remember the story of Simon Magus?  He was the magician in The Acts of the Apostles who tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit but was rebuked by Saint Peter.  Early Church Fathers such as Iranaeus and Justyn…

My new breviaries arrived in the mail the other day. I ordered the full, four-volume set bound in black leather.

They are beautiful. The books are a gift to myself for being accepted to the seminary. Starting in August,…

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

All things came to be through him

and without him nothing came to be. 

What came to…

Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee when He came across two brothers, the fishermen Simon and Andrew.  He asked them to leave behind their livelihoods and to become His disciples.  They immediately dropped their nets.…