I Am in Need of Music

I Am in Need of Music

I’ve been making a particular discernment these past months about my next steps as a Jesuit. It’s been draining. Draining, but good. Long days of interviews, reports, conversations, clarifications, prayer, more reports, more conversations, more clarifications, prayer,...
How Can I Be Less Dumb?

How Can I Be Less Dumb?

Am I dumber because of using Facebook? Not only does clickbait telling me which Star Wars character best represents each US state1 fail to expand my intellectual horizons, but social media potentially makes me dumber in that I end up seeing the views of people who...
The Wholeness of a Broken Heart

The Wholeness of a Broken Heart

Discovering who I was in college didn’t come with much affirmation that love could be part of my human experience. I dreamed of marriage and children with all the typical accessories of the American Dream. But encountering anything romantic came in the form of...
Lenten Politics

Lenten Politics

Prayer. Fasting. Almsgiving. The three buzzwords of Lent. Each year, I start off strong, but often my zeal tapers as the 40 days progress – usually somewhere around day three. Then, all of a sudden, Easter is here, and I’ve forgotten about them because I’ve...
Doing Something for Somebody

Doing Something for Somebody

Perhaps you, like 20 million others, have seen this video. When I saw it, I felt so thankful that I had purchased sandwiches for two homeless men earlier that day. I felt like I was on the good side. But since that day — as on countless occasions prior to that...
House Mass: The Mystery in the Mundane

House Mass: The Mystery in the Mundane

In Madrid we live in apartment flats (pisos) and our house chapel is a converted bedroom – a rather small bedroom. For our community of fifteen fully grown Jesuits, it can be a tight fit. The space is about twice as long as it is wide, so we sit on a bench...
In Memoriam: Antonin Scalia

In Memoriam: Antonin Scalia

I met the late Antonin Scalia only once in my life.  The college seminar I took on the Supreme Court included a trip to Washington, DC, during which we observed oral arguments and, afterwards, Justice Scalia spoke with us for the better part of an hour.  It was...