All posts by Matt Spotts, SJ

But this was a wedding weekend, which means that the conversation inevitably and rightly turned to the couple. And everybody said it; I said it: “You two are so good together. You seem so happy.”

I had a fool-proof plan for what would happen when I shared the passage with my prayer group: it was going to be a miracle. A salty tears, angelic choruses, cataracts falling from eyes, miracle.

“A couple was very much in love. Like most lovers, their life together was a story deeper than it was long…”

We had arrived just ahead of a summer storm, an electric charge in the air. We were greeted by a woman with an oxygen tank in tow. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.

Easy part first: Rep. Akin’s assertion that a raped woman will not get pregnant is absurd and nonsensical. But still there is something to be learned…

“Reacting is easy. It’s harder for me to let myself feel pain, to ask the insoluble question: ‘Where is God in all this?’…”

“What does it even mean to have an experience of God!?” my friend belted out. It was all I could do to mumble a response to this too wise and too honest, too blunt friend…

For as long as I can remember I have been mildly obsessive about the condition of my favorite books. I hold them gently, like my grandmother’s arm…