I spent yesterday morning at the dentist. My recent checkup revealed some extra work that needed to be done, and the only time they could get me in was Holy Thursday, which seemed somehow appropriate. No worries of not doing enough penance that day!

The appointment began with my dentist uttering one of the most ominous phrases known to mankind: "Let's try this without anesthetic." She thought there was a good chance that we could get through the procedure sans medication. We would know if her assumption was incorrect, she explained, if I felt a sudden explosion of searing, mind-melting pain that electrified every molecule of my being with pure agony as her metal tools ground deep into...READ MORE

I was flipping through my worn copy of Seven Storey Mountain yesterday, and came across a passage I highlighted back when I first read it. Thomas Merton was talking about his efforts to get his writing published, and he said:

The more I failed, the more I was convinced that it was important for me to have my work printed in magazines like the Southern Review or Partisan Review or the New Yorker. My chief concern was now to see myself in print. It was as if I could not quite be satisfied that I was real until I could feed my ambition with these trivial glories, and my ancient selfishness was now matured and concentrated in this desire to see myself externalized in a public and printed...READ MORE

This weekend, I had the privilege of going to Palm Sunday Mass at Holy Rosary parish in Houston. It’s one of those places where the presence of the Holy Spirit just about blows you backward as soon as you walk in the door. The building is almost 100 years old, and stepping inside feels like you’re being transported into another time. The priests’ love of the Eucharist is evident in their slightest motions as they move through the Mass. The huge wooded crucifix looms behind the altar, an omnipresent reminder of why we’re here. I’ve been to Mass there before, and I almost always have a powerful visceral experience. More than once I’ve found myself wiping tears out of my eyes, overwhelmed at...READ MORE

When I came into communion with the Church five years ago, wise Catholics warned me that the road might get rocky in the years ahead. They reminded me that my conversion did not end, but only began, that night at Easter Vigil. They counseled me to prepare to be tested over and over again as I lived my life as a Catholic.

Frank Bruni has an op-ed in the New York Times about a friend of his who left the Catholic faith. The piece is a conversion story of sorts, detailing how this man went from being a faithful Catholic to a nonbelieving doctor and abortion provider. It reaches its crescendo when Bruni recounts this story, told to him by this friend:

He shared a story about one of the loudest abortion foes he ever encountered, a woman who stood year in and year out on a ladder, so that her head would be above other protesters’ as she shouted “murderer” at him and other doctors and “wh**e” at every woman who walked into the clinic.

One day she was missing. “I thought, ‘I hope she’s O.K.,’” he recalled....READ MORE

I recently made a commitment to say the Morning Offering every day. I’d been having trouble making time for longer prayer sessions, so I figured that the least I could do would be to start each morning with that short prayer, which says simply:

O Jesus,

through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day,

for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,

in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,

in reparation for my sins,

for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,

and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father.

The Global Atheist Convention is just around the corner! From April 13 - 15 thousands of atheists will convene in Melbourne, Australia for a weekend get-together. I was never into organized atheism back when I was a nonbeliever, so I spent a while browsing the website to get a feel for what might go on at a convention like this. Some initial impressions:

• It’s surprising that a “global” convention would have a website that’s only in English. Was that an oversight? Or was there perhaps not tons of demand for El Espejismo de Dios?
• Where’s Hemant Mehta? He must have been busy that weekend. The blogger/author is a major up-and-coming voice in the modern atheist movement. Given the perspective...READ MORE