Commentary by Fr. James Schall
The Last 'Nonsense' In Print
"In spite of it all, this 'nonsense' still makes sense, even in print."
Responsibility for Our Souls
We are not the objects of our own hope, but we are its subjects.
On the 'Right' to Be Created
The fun only begins when we live in bounty, not rights.
On Murder and War
"If Murder Is a Crime, What Is War?"
Mathematics
This issue touches the very credibility of faith and its relation to reason.
Religious Freedom
We are free in order to accomplish what we are.
Bridge Walkers
We walk because it is itself an exhilarating experience.
'To Save the People from Their Sins'
We are invited to understand and choose.
The Nativity
"We bring you tidings of great joy."
Schall at Eighty
Both the peril and the excitement are there, for we are free.
In the Company of Good Men
To know and practice many of the highest virtues we need others...
The Lord Alone
The proper worship of God is both our end and our final joy.
Orthodoxy
The single-best book published in the last hundred years.
The Pleasure of Learning
Knowing, being sensible is its own pleasure.
Peace Research
It remains the principal problem of our time.
The Young Tyrant
"We know that the requests of tyrants are mingled with compulsion."
Justice and Eternal Life
On justice in Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Spe Salvi.
Liberating Theology from Politics
The duty of the Christian...is to leave this world a better man."
What Is a Leader?
The most difficult of all the human occupations of this world.
On Words and Symbols
Why the Church talks of being, natural law, and doctrine.
The Christmas Fire
We are beings who want to know the whole story.
Second Readings
Leave us with such ultimate things on our mind, when we least expect them.
The 'Right' to Happiness
"No one has a right to happiness."
The Lord of the World
"Wonderfully conveys the flatness and boredom of a world without God."
The Last Christian
Redemption is an invitation, not something forced on us.
Graduation 2009
Every 20 year old needs to be aware of and excited by <em>what is</em>...
The Actual Constitution
The Constitution "evidently binds nobody. Actually, nothing binds anyone."
Moral Reasoning
Every man has a conscience, even drifting on the Mississippi.
A Transcendent Nature
We are loved for our own sakes, however we respond.
On Never Being Correct
It reminds us that we do not ourselves make all the rules of our living.
The Absurdity of War
War is not simply "absurd." Not thinking about it surely is.
On Answering Questions
Truth asks questions but, more importantly, gives answers.
On Being an 'Ultra-Catholic'
One who strives to do what Aquinas did.
It Is Bidden Us to Rejoice
Let us accept it. Let us not be worrisome. Let us rejoice and be glad!
We Do Believe
At the basis of all our ability to "believe" is not more belief, but finally seeing.
A Man of Words and Deeds
Churchill was a statesman, a man of action with the prudence that goes with it.
Original Sin
A consoling doctrine that prevents us from ultimately finding only ourselves.
Resurrexit Sicut Dixit
Without this resurrection, our whole human reality is in vain.
The Big Problem
"What is the truth?" and "Where do you find it?"
The One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth Fish
Evidently, Christ was a fisher of fish as well as of men.
The Rise of Cross-less Catholicism
Catholicism is not a religion that provides a formula for not sinning.
"Man of the Word"
His words are nothing if not rooted in the Word made flesh.
Evangelization
We may not want to know the truth, but Someone still wants us to know it.
Love and Dogma
Is the catechism really an impediment to teaching children to be loving?
On the Reading of Books
Strange that there should be so little reading in the world and so much writing.
On Building an Earthly City
Our end is not an earthly city.
Absolute Non-Judgment
"It's kind of nice to be able to see what is going on."
Screwtape on Pleasure
The logic of the improper use of pleasure is, finally, no pleasure at all.
"A Raging Mirth"
Reflection on Chesterton's "A Child of the Snows."
The Fatherhood of God
He is our Father, the Father of us all.
Knowledge Is Power
Only when we see its results do we go back and wonder about the principle.
Things Not Due to Teaching
The question of what can be taught or what cannot is an intriguing one...
The Papal Pencil
"...Not only changing the way we communicate, but communication itself."
American Timidity?
Is U.S. Democracy just talk?
American Timidity?
Is U.S. Democracy just talk?
