Taking Captivity Captive

Taking Captivity Captive

Most likely we have seen many lovely images of the Madonna and Child in recent weeks, and should have the nativity before our eyes for the weeks to come. Despite her recent hardships and a horizon darkened by impending challenges, the Blessed Mother is always depicted...
Four-fold Gratitude

Four-fold Gratitude

For some time upon receiving Holy Communion, I have tried to focus on three things for which I am deeply grateful: the Divine Plan, the Blood of Christ, and Our Lady’s fiat. Each requires a moment to unpack and savor, beginning with this entire project we know as...
Rethinking Bastille Day

Rethinking Bastille Day

Every year as I grew up in Annapolis, I saw the streets downtown barricaded off in mid-July for the Bastille Day celebrations. Obviously, French support was essential to the success of the American revolution, and within the Maryland State House stands the very room...
Mary: Mother of the New Creation

Mary: Mother of the New Creation

In the Office earlier this week, we had a lovely reading from Saint Ephraem, affectionately known as the “Harp of the Holy Spirit.” Mary was made heaven on our behalf by bearing the divinity which Christ, without leaving the glory of the Father, enclosed...
A fruitful Lent

A fruitful Lent

Leila Marie Lawler would make anyone’s short list of wise women alive today, and this piece on how to choose reading material for Lent is a prime example of why. It’s not wrong to take practices upon ourselves (prayers, readings, penitential acts), but we have...