Notre Dame Des Victoires

Something on clear display in the Bible and in the history of the Church is that a mission that is authentically from God tends to draw people to itself. When Peter and his companions were overwhelmed by the miraculous draught of fishes, other fishermen rushed to the scene to help them. When Mother Teresa made her way into the streets of Calcutta to care for the sick and dying, she was joined, within weeks, by many of her former students. One of the great privileges of my life has been my involvement with the Word on Fire apostolate. Something I have watched with fascination and deep spiritual joy is that so many people from around the country have been drawn by God’s providence into this ministry. This past week, for the first time ever, we gathered in Santa Barbara all twenty-five members of the Word on Fire team for days…

Algo que se ve claramente en la Biblia y a lo largo de la historia de la Iglesia es que una misión que viene auténticamente de Dios tiende a arrastrar a la gente hacia ella. Cuando Pedro y sus compañeros se vieron superados por la pesca milagrosa, otros pescadores se apresuraron a ayudarles. Cuando la Madre Teresa se adentró en las calles de Calcuta para atender a los enfermos y moribundos, se le unieron, en cuestión de semanas, muchas de sus antiguas alumnas. Uno de los grandes privilegios de mi vida ha sido haberme unido al apostolado de Word on Fire. Algo que he observado con fascinación y gran alegría espiritual es que tantas personas de todo el país hayan sido arrastradas por la Providencia Divina a este ministerio. La semana pasada, por primera vez, reunimos en Santa Bárbara a los veinticinco miembros del equipo de Word on Fire para…

I have been following George Will’s thought for a long time. I’m old enough to remember when his column occupied the last page of Newsweek magazine every other week and when he sat in the chair of conservative thought on David Brinkley’s Sunday morning political talk show. I have long admired his graceful literary style and his clipped, smart manner of speech. Will was always especially good when, with lawyerly precision, he would take apart the sloppy thinking of one of his intellectual or political opponents. When I taught an introductory course in political philosophy at Mundelein Seminary many years ago, I used Will’s book Statecraft as Soulcraft to get across to my students what the ancients meant by the moral purpose of government. And so it was with great interest that I turned to Will’s latest offering, a massive volume called The Conservative Sensibility, a book that both in…