Please note: I have intentionally decided not to include Amazon links (unless something is available exclusively on Amazon). Instead, if you are interested in reading any of the books I mention, I encourage you to check out your local library or independent bookstore. These places (and the communities around them) need your support, and they are generally quite willing to order any book if they don’t currently have it in stock. However, if Amazon is still the more practical choice…
This article was originally published in The Catholic News Herald of the diocese of Charlotte. Last year, I was blessed to go on a pilgrimage that took me to Munich and the Bavarian forests. We also visited sites in Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, but it was in Bavaria that I felt a sense of coming home; my great-great-grandparents met on the ship coming over to America from different parts of Bavaria, both of them striking out on their own with…
In a few short days, I’ll be turning 33 years old. This may not seem like a significant age to most, but it feels quite momentous to me. Taylor Marshall has a great little post about why 33 is the perfect age. I had been thinking about this for sometime beforehand, and so his post was a nice confirmation that I wasn’t just putting my own significance on this age. The most interesting (to me) of the facts he presents…
Please note: I have intentionally decided not to include Amazon links (unless something is available exclusively on Amazon). Instead, if you are interested in reading any of the books I mention, I encourage you to check out your local library or independent bookstore. These places (and the communities around them) need your support, and they are generally quite willing to order any book if they don’t currently have it in stock. However, if Amazon is still the more practical choice…
Recently I was blessed to be a part of the wedding of my oldest friend, a beautiful woman who by God’s grace I have known my whole life. To say that it was an honor or a privilege feels like a cop out or a cliche: overused words that barely convey the proper emotions. If you have ever had a friend or family member share exciting news with you, and you experienced their joy as if it was your own,…
This article was originally published in The Catholic News Herald of the diocese of Charlotte. In a world of Twitter and Internet memes that prize brevity, short yet poignant quotes are often passed around on social media without much thought as to where they came from. Some of my personal favorites: “An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.”; “To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same…
Please note: I have intentionally decided not to include Amazon links (unless something is available exclusively on Amazon). Instead, if you are interested in reading any of the books I mention, I encourage you to check out your local library or independent bookstore. These places (and the communities around them) need your support, and they are generally quite willing to order any book if they don’t currently have it in stock. However, if Amazon is still the more practical choice…
In his book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes, “For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity… He [God] would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present — either meditating on the eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.” I am very bad at…
In my weakness for good stories, I also have a serious weakness for movies and television shows. When the medium of film is used well, it can create such a magical experience; and it’s also nice to get lost in a story for just a couple of hours rather than the time commitment of reading a whole book. However, alongside my purging of social media the past few years, I’ve also given up the majority of streaming video services. Currently,…
Please note: I have intentionally decided not to include Amazon links (unless something is available exclusively on Amazon). Instead, if you are interested in reading any of the books I mention, I encourage you to check out your local library or independent bookstore. These places (and the communities around them) need your support, and they are generally quite willing to order any book if they don’t currently have it in stock. However, if Amazon is still the more practical choice…