by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.

Pilate must have thought he had entered fantasyland. He represented the might and the majesty, the power and the glory of Rome, and before him stood Jesus alone, abandoned and bloodied. Pilate knew he sounded absurd when he asked: “Are you the King of the Jews?”…

“You first.”
by Deacon John Kerrigan

November is always a bittersweet month. In the midst of autumn’s beauty, there are so many evident signs that the end of the calendar year is upon us: cooler evenings, shorter periods of daylight, Thanksgiving celebrations just ahead followed by Advent, Christmas and the holiday season. November resembles a crossroads, both in nature and our Church: one season is ending, another is about to come to life.

by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.

It’s been decades, but I still can feel the heat of El Paso. It was 120 degrees when I landed! Sure, it cooled to 116 degrees, but try living and working in a two-story brick building without air conditioners or even fans.

“I was blind, but now I see.”
by Deacon John Kerrigan

This troubling headline appeared recently on the front page of the Wall Street Journal: “Desperate to feed her family of six, Saleha, a housecleaner in western Afghanistan earning 70 cents a day, incurred such an insurmountable debt that the only way she saw out of her situation was to hand over her three-year-old daughter, Najiba, to the man who lent her the money.” Her debt? $550.

Now, let’s take a moment for these words to sink in.

“Jesus and the Status Game”
by Fr. Dominic DeLay, O.P.

Can you imagine: Jesus tells you he’s going to suffer and be killed, and you respond by asking him if you can sit at his side in glory? Do you even want glory? What is glory?

by Fr. Dominic DeLay, O.P. and Sr. Gloria Marie Jones, O.P.

Have you ever felt like the rich man, really trying to do the right thing, feeling a bit proud of your accomplishments, and then someone tells you you’re not good enough? Another version of this gospel identifies this man as young, but this man could easily be me. I try so hard to be a good boy.

by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.

A graduate student remarked, “It’s that time when things get really overwhelming!” … And then she caught herself! … “Oh, I guess it’s only been 2 weeks.” … Time is relative to the stress you feel!

by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.

I was raised in a defensive Church. The Baltimore Catechism was our defense manual; and it was not unjustified. A religious wall divided America and a glass ceiling kept Catholics down.

“Stanford Upside Down Duck Syndrome”
by Fr. Dominic DeLay, O.P.

You new students have already heard plenty about Stanford’s two great syndromes: imposter and duck, imposter syndrome being the nagging feeling that you don’t belong at Stanford, that everyone else is superior to you, and duck syndrome being the feeling that you have to look like you’re gliding across the Stanford waters of excellence, but your feet are desperately paddling under the surface.

by Fr. Bob Glynn, S.J.

I am very much an avid reader. But I also get quite bored easily when I’m reading so I have to have something that’s, well, fun. Fun is the … It’s the word of my life, I must admit. So I need something that’s fun and I found something very fun, if slightly bizarre, this summer. It’s a book called The Five Wounds…