On how terrible love really is

I always find the introit to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to contain the most interesting thoughts, and today is no exception. After lifting up a shout of praise, the Psalmist says, “Quam terribília sunt ópera tua, Dómine!/ How terrible are thy works, O Lord!” The English language has the disconcerting habit of changing…

Weaning season

I spend a lot of time in the countryside near Hermann. I’m drawn there by the wildness of the Missouri River valley, which is as beautiful as anywhere in the world with gently rolling glacial till that collects in the valleys with their thin, seasonal streams. The streams drop down through the bluffs, weaving through…

What do we think we recognize

“Nothing that I do is finished,” writes the poet W.S. Merwin, “so I keep returning to it/ lured by the notion that I long/ to see the whole of it at last/ completed and estranged from me.” I’m sure we’ve all had similar experiences of trying to perfect a project or a skillset. Think of…

Palm Sunday thoughts

Happy Palm Sunday, friends. The singing of the Passion takes the place of the homily today at Mass, but I thought I'd refer you to a couple of essays I've written recently that may be of interest. First, a meditation on hands "At our church on Palm Sunday, the priest gives each individual parishioner a…

On the practice of veiling

When God instructs Moses on the architecture of the tabernacle, he describes multiple curtains, or veils of fine linen, to be placed between the tabernacle and the various outer courts. The final veil, the one separating off holy of holies, was only breached once per year when the high priest entered to make the atonement…