Collected here are articles and reviews that have appeared in print, as well as a presentation of my books. There are a few interviews and some sound material, notably my reading of the Gospels in Greek, a project that remains work in progress.
In the Book of Daniel, the prophet is referred to as vir desideriorum, a man of desires. This image has always represented the archetype of the monk; it is not less the archetype of the apostles, and of every Christian.
Continue reading The Fathers never forgot that the finality of human life is participation in God’s loving nature. That is why their words, even when they are stern, are light, and full of light.
Continue reading The test of Christian authenticity is always relational. Rid yourself of the habit of judging others, therefore, for who are you to know what moves them or the change of which they are capable?
Continue reading Don Luigi Giussani, a priest of Milan, was one of the twentieth century's great teachers and preachers of Catholic faith, ever clear in his allegiance to the Church, ever committed to making Catholic doctrine comprehensible, applying it with originality and passion to the predicaments, hopes, and anxieties of our times.
Continue reading The Fathers would all have felt deeply offended, had it been suggested to them that they were saying something original. Their concern was to point towards Christ, to be roadsigns, which, when we travel, we acknowledge gratefully but then pass beyond, our eyes set on our destination.
Continue reading Grace builds on nature, and God knows who you are, and also knows what will serve your flourishing and will enable you to render the most effective service. So, pray, listen, watch, and follow.
Continue reading Temptations have their usefulness; in them the gold of authenticity is purified. Only, we must consent to the melting-off of dross.
Continue reading In St Antony the life of God was palpably present. This presence revealed man in his natural state, which we are all called to reach.
Continue reading The delight of silence is to us a taste we must acquire, much the way a palate brutalised by sugary soft drinks must undergo a slow apprenticeship, a fasting from overwhelming sensation to relish the distinction of fine jasmine tea.
Continue reading Instead of rising up to follow Christ's call, we say, ‘Mañana - perhaps.’ Meanwhile time passes, grace is lost.
Continue reading The discovery of Antony made Augustine cringe at the half-heartedness of the prayer he had long recited: ‘Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet.’
Continue reading Do you remember the account of Christmas 1886 in Thérèse of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul? It describes the incident which she, that incomparable Doctor of the Church, would later refer to as her ‘conversion’.
Continue reading Christianity is of the dawn - if at times, during given periods, we feel enshrouded by twilight, it is because another day is in the making. If we do want to deal in the currency of ‘pre’ and ‘post’, I think it more apposite to suggest that we stand on the threshold of an age I would call ‘post-secular’.
Continue reading Speaking of 'sexual liberation' we slap a problematic label onto a complex cultural development. In fact, the term rather undermines itself.
Continue reading The Gospel cannot be reduced to a banal, ‘I’m OK, You’re OK’. When it is, it ceases to be Gospel - it becomes, then, just a means to self-deception.
Continue reading As for signs of hope in the Church, I see an immense array, alive in charity and goodness.
Continue reading The Norwegian version of my book on chastity carries the title that from the inception of this project has been my work title, 'Homo castus'. It is my concern to show that chastity concerns more than just sexual morality; that it refers to a way of being human that is characteristic of our essential nature.
Continue reading Zena Hitz writes: ‘I reckon that to hold something in loving attention while reconciled to its permanent annihilation is not humanly possible’.
Continue reading Our aim is to contribute constructively - ours isn’t an angry or overwrought statement. We affirm the preciousness of life, of each person — in whom we wish to recognise a sister, a brother, a potential friend, seeing them as much as possible as God sees them, that is, with immense hope.
Continue reading It is a mistake to reduce personhood to an abstraction, as if it were merely an idea in our mind, potentially changeable at will.
Continue reading In these times of consultations and questionnaires, we are constantly asked to reflect on our responses to things. Our basic mode of understanding is self-referential.
Continue reading It took me years to develop the courage to speak of a 'vocation', the word at first seemed too big for me. Nonetheless, the encounter with monastic life provided in me a sense of recognition, as if it provided a resonance of myself.
Continue reading I am convinced that we're in the middle of a cultural shift in our countries. In a certain sense the process of secularisation has now come to an end - yet the human being remains a human being, seeking meaning, beauty, and truth.
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