Dear Friends, The recent first anniversary of Pope Leo XIV’s election to the papacy brought a spate of commentaries and analyses about the signals he was sending and the direction he seemed to be going as the Vicar of Christ. While some of the commentaries were well-intended and insightful, one ...

“The best portion of a good person’s life is ‘the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.’” – Theo of Golden Dear Friends,     This past week the weather has grown warmer, and more folks are out and about, and the casual “Hello, how are you?” is answered ...

Dear Friends,   What does it mean to be a friend of the Lord Jesus? Our Lord gives us a lovely insight in Luke 22:28. At the Last Supper, at the edge of his Passion, Jesus reminds his apostles: “You are those who have continued with me in my trials.” ...

Dear Friends,   A question that arrives in the inbox with surprising regularity is one that deals with the Blessed Virgin Mary and why we Catholics pray to her. After all, isn’t Jesus the only Mediator between God and man? And isn’t it his death that won us redemption? To ...

Dear Friends,     Guillermo del Toro’s movie Frankenstein (2025) is a retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic novel of the same name. Compared to the countless horror-movie-genre versions of the same story, del Toro’s film is closer to the novel. There are, however, some important differences—and it could be said ...

Dear Friends,   The fourth week of Easter, April 26, is Good Shepherd Sunday. In the Gospel reading, Jesus tells us, “The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him.” (Jn 10:3–4). After the Resurrection, the disciples ...

Dear Friends,     There is nothing like warm, sunny days to get us outside: sitting on our porch with a good book, hiking a trail, or going for a run along the beach. Vacation days help us to stop and notice that beauty and goodness all around us that ...

Dear Friends,   In his Tales of the Hasidim, Martin Buber relates the following story. “Once, on the eve of the Day of Atonement, Rabbi Zusya heard a cantor in the House of Prayer chanting the words: ‘And it is forgiven…’  Then he called to God: ‘Lord of the world! ...