The Vale of Soul-Making
In the formulation of his own personal "system of salvation," John Keats has fallen victim to two perennial temptations to which we human beings are subject.
Beauty-Goodness-Truth
Savor the beautiful. Strive for the good. Seek the truth. News, politics, culture, and life interpreted through the lenses of beauty, goodness, and truth and a faithfully Catholic perspective.
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Which Type of Freedom Will You Choose?
Our finite freedom finds its ultimate fulfillment by entering into the infinite freedom of the divine dynamic of self-giving love.
The School of Love
We’re all here to learn how to love.
All Things Are Revealed in the Cross
The path to our intended destination is the path of self-giving love, perfectly exemplified for us by Jesus in his sacrificial death on the cross.
Life Without Limits
We want more than being able to break free from the limits that constrain us. We want to break out of finitude entirely, to find our way into the fullest possible life.
Materialism Is the Opiate of the Masses
One can argue that materialism, rather than religion, is the true "opiate of the masses" as it prevents people from seeing the world as it really is.
Solzhenitsyn Didn't Realize Beauty Has Already Saved the World
It's important, even crucial, always to remind ourselves that the salvation of the world doesn't depend entirely on us.
The Things That Make for Peace
True and lasting peace has both a horizontal dimension (peace with our fellow human beings) and a vertical dimension (peace with God).
Man as Boundary Phenomenon
On Rediscovering the Image of Human Nature
The God-Man's Dilemma
Every Christmas, I find my thoughts returning to a passage from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s book, Heart of the World. In this passage, Balthasar reflects on the dilemma that confronted the Son of God when he came into the world as one of us.
The Creative Power of Love
Love makes the seemingly impossible possible. Love carries within itself the power to create, the power to bring something into existence that did not exist before, the power to transform a potentiality into a reality.
The Disenchantment Dilemma for Today's Culture
Our desires are infinite because they are, at their deepest level, a desire for the infinite good, who is God. Nothing less than God will satisfy us.
The Virtue of Living 'As If'
Some people find their way to God and to Christian faith via the beautiful or the true, but some find their way there via the good.
Surprise: The Culture of Death Celebrates Death
What are we to make of the shocking number of people who are cheering and celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk?
The Problem of Liquid Identity
The ongoing decline in societal stability is troubling in many ways, but perhaps one of its most concerning consequences is its detrimental effect on the ability of many adolescents and young adults to form a solid and stable sense of personal identity.
Utopias, Dystopias, and the Object of Hope
For several millennia, the human race has dreamt of a utopia, a perfect earthly society.
Return to the Heart
In one of his most famous lines, St. Augustine exclaims, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Hans Urs von Balthasar took St. Augustine’s profound insight and reflected upon it from a different perspective—God’s perspective. Addressing Jesus, and speaking for all human beings, Balthasar exclaims, “Your Heart is restless until it rests in me.…
Demoralization and the "Cosmic Authority Problem"
Thomas Nagel, an American philosopher, once wrote a candid admission about both the nature and the source of his atheism: “It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God.
Putting the "We" Back in "We the People"
It’s going to be extremely difficult for our politicians to work together to serve the common good when many of them aren’t willing to join together with each other for even a brief moment in order to applaud obvious instances of the good.
Our Sense of the Good Points to the Infinite Good
As life wears on, things get more, not less, morally complex.