Petersboat

When the Muppets come to understand that they are puppets, something amazing is happening, as mysterious as when a man or woman begins to perceive the meaning of our common humanity.

Sometimes my father would say to me, “Don’t move. I’ll be right there,” and he’d directly intervene to save me from some situation. But other times, he would say to me, “Figure it out on your own.” For instance, when I broke my arm in the 6th grade he rushed me to the hospital, acting powerfully and swiftly on my behalf. But not long after that, when I told him that I was being bullied on the bus,...

I mentioned Game 4 of the NBA Finals, when, after the Knicks had gone up by one point (after being down by 29) the Spurs inbounded the ball with 1.9 seconds left on the clock. The prayer at that point was, “Just don’t foul them.” And I feel like there’s something similar happening in our Christianity: Christ has won the victory for us, conquering the Evil One on the cross, and His parting prayer f...

Many people today are reaching out for God in a proud and ambitious way, like Icarus, and end up only hurting themselves, as we once did before beginning to love Jesus in the Eucharist. This weekend's Feast of Corpus Christi raises the question: Can man really know God? Can man really approach the Son without getting hurt? I say he can. Good News, Icarus.

What if God were to begin imparting to us some of His divine life now, in this life, little by little, all along the way, until He finally takes us to Himself. Then - even if we were to have a bad day, or someone were to betray us, or we were to get sick - then, we would be able to call life good because of where it’s ultimately going.

If remaining with people requires forgiving them all the time, and forgiving people all the time will make us more like Christ, then perhaps it's good for us that we challenge one another. Good for us, personally. Good for our loved ones. And good for our country.

I grew up golfing. I still golf. Sometimes I think I should quit. But something tells me that God wants me to keep playing because of what it teaches me about life. Many people promise us an escape from failures, mistakes and losses. But what if there were something for us to be gained from those as well by offering them to God too?

It's never easy to be "in between," but it is possible with the Church.

The natural communion of marriage and motherhood remains the basis of all society in this world, but the Holy Communion of the Church, which is a holy marriage and holy motherhood, is the new and eternal basis for life in the world to come.

Saints emerge from the times in which they live, and Saint Louis de Montfort lived in a time not all that different than our own. It was a matter of belonging to Christ through a kind of holy slavery in order to be free.

I grew up “looking in” at the Church. I felt that way even when I was in the Seminary studying for the priesthood, like I didn’t really belong there. And I feel that way now that I’m ordained. It’s not the virtue of humility; it’s just what it is for me, but it shapes the way I preach to people (and speak to you hear). I’m always like Thomas in that way: the other guys see it first before me, and...

With time and openness to the resuscitating friendship of Christ, friendship between men is possible. Lazarus shows us this.

To be Christian is to be alone, but to be alone together with Christ and with one another in the Church. We are those blessed few who have been sought and found by Christ, the Eternal Sunrise, Who shines us who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and Who guides our feet into the way of peace.

Life isn't programmed, but it isn't entirely random either. It seems that Our Lord knew the Samaritan woman would be at the well, just as He knows where to find us when we're hiding, or just in need of restoration.

Is it necessary that all conflict must become all-out war? Is the annihilation of the enemy what makes for peace? Or, is there some way to permit that there will always be conflict in a fallen world, but that not all conflict needs to lead to the tearing apart of peoples. In fact, what if there were a way to be drawn even closer together through conflict?

What drives out demons is not fascination with evil; that often makes it worse. Rather, fascination with Christ reorders us. When we humble ourselves before Him, He repairs the breach between us and the authority of God in our lives and evil is cast out.

The developers of AI began by directing their large languages models through a kind of Constitution, “Do this, and don’t do that,” but they quickly learned that in some mysterious way those models tended to "do what they want” anyway, disobeying the parameters and rules. Now the designers of this false utopia are almost pleading with the software to function with good intentions, and to make decis...

A word about coming alive by dying to ourselves, finding fulfillment in emptying ourselves, and living with Christ on the cross.

In the heart of every man there is a desire for God that burns like a fire in need of a fireplace, lest it burn destructively in the world. The Church, as Mother of the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, can tame the Natural Virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Fortitude in such a way as to enable us to wield them toward God, our original desire, our first love.

We hear people saying, "Law! Law! Law!" And we've got great laws, and a great Constitution. So what's the problem? Why isn't yelling, "Law!" working? Is there something missing? Something more essential, even necessary?

We are God's children now, no longer dogs on the street. We once lived by instinct and appetite alone, but now we live by God's Spirit, which illuminates our intellect and will, those faculties of our human soul that are characteristic of the sons and daughters of God.

If we would be truly wise, yes. By God's grace, a man can surrender his gold for the treasures offered to us in Christ, his frankincense for the true prayer that Christ shares with us, and even his own definitions of rest, which Christ also transcends and transfigures. And in fact, man must. Only then will he depart for his country by a different way, changed and intent on peace with his neighbors...

Believing in miracles is essential to our Faith, since the Sacraments are all miracles. But it's still more important to ask what God may be trying to say to us through the specific signs He sends to us in our own days.

I suppose most parents will say to their children, "You can be whatever you want to be when you grow up," but I don't imagine that Our Lady and Saint Joseph said such things to Jesus.

A little boy came to me after Mass yesterday, showing me a gold key in a red bag. It turned out to be a good way of understanding the intercession of the Blessed Mother. This is a teaching on Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and how she desires to help us to stay close to her Son.