by Garrett Gundlach, SJ | Sep 8, 2015 | Blogs, Spirituality ~ Approx. 3 mins
I don’t think I’ve ever lost gracefully. In fact, I’m not sure I know what that even means. If I want grace, if I want to feel right and blessed and good when the final buzzer sounds, then I have to win. But still, I like to think that I’m not that competitive. All my...
by Brendan Busse, SJ | Sep 7, 2015 | In the News, Justice, Pope Francis ~ Approx. 3 mins
View image | gettyimages.com A year ago I moved to Spain. I arrived with a suitcase, a backpack, and a guitar stuffed full of socks and underwear. I entered Europe with a student visa and a whole lot of support. It wasn’t easy. The whole process took months. I...
by Matt Spotts, SJ | Sep 3, 2015 | Education, In the News, Justice ~ Approx. 3 mins
As a high school history, philosophy, and religion teacher, I spend a significant amount of my time irritating my students by nitpicking at their writing and speaking style: Avoid the passive voice! Don’t say “I feel like” when you mean “I think!” In fact, better not...
by Brian Strassburger, SJ | Sep 2, 2015 | Spirituality ~ Approx. 6 mins
I was getting out of the car during a late night errand to the local Target store in the Bronx and hustling before it closed for the night. As I was making my way across the parking lot, a departing customer caught sight of me from his car. He hit the brakes, rolled...
by Keith Maczkiewicz, SJ | Sep 1, 2015 | Blogs, Spirituality ~ Approx. 3 mins
I don’t think I ever prayed for anything as regularly or as fervently. Since last Christmas, when my sister told us she and her husband were expecting their first child, the constant petition on my lips was for the health of mother and baby. “For my sister and all...
by Danny Gustafson, SJ | Aug 31, 2015 | TJP Reads ~ Approx. 1min
All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren, tells the story of a corrupt politician’s rise to power in the midst of the Great Depression. Partially based on the life of Huey “Kingfish” Long, who served as Governor and Senator of Louisiana, this novel is a fascinating...
by Juan Ruiz, SJ | Aug 28, 2015 | In the News, Spirituality ~ Approx. 2 mins
“I love the thing that I most wish had not happened.” ….Wait, what?! Stephen Colbert said this in a recent interview with GQ Magazine. Turns out, when he was 10 years old two of his brothers and his father were killed in a plane crash. That is tragic, but it isn’t the...
by Nathaniel Romano, SJ | Aug 26, 2015 | Pop Culture, TJP Reads ~ Approx. 2 mins
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a fan of comic books. As a mildly unpopular, nerdy, and studious child, comics offered an escape through narratives where muscles, popularity, and sports were not the only important things. As a mildly unpopular, nerdy, and lawyerly...
by Eric Sundrup, SJ | Aug 24, 2015 | Humor, Spirituality ~ Approx. 3 mins
“There is nothing more touching to me than a family picture where everyone is trying to look his or her best, but you can see what a mess they all really are.” -Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith Not sad. Touching. One word shifts everything. She...
by Alex Placke | Aug 21, 2015 | TJP Reads ~ Approx. 2min
This summer I had the pleasure of reading the first trilogy in the fantasy series The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. The series follows the story of a man diagnosed with leprosy who is mysteriously transported to a fantasy world called The Land, where...
