Could this really be socialism—with the labor camps of Kolyma, with the horrors of collectivization, with the cannibalism and the millions of deaths during the famine? Yes, there were times when a very different understanding…
“The Bible has always been restricted in Communist countries because it is an agent of change.” –A Protestant pastor in Cuba, cited in Robert Royal, The Martyrs of the New Millennium:The Global Persecution of Christians…
In Les Misérables, Jean Valjean saves at least nine people: two children in Montreuil-sur-Mer from a fire; Fauchelevent from being crushed to death by a cart; Cosette from her troubled life with the Thénardiers; Fantine…
For justice cannot exist where all the best things in life are held by the worse citizens; nor can anyone be happy whee property is limited to a few, since those few are always uneasy…
“You see, Alyoshechka,” Grushenka turned to him, laughing nervously, “I’m boasting to Rakitka that I gave an onion, but I’m not boasting to you, I’ll tell you about it for a different reason. It’s just…
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. –The Gospel according to St. Luke, 6:37.
C.S. Lewis once discussed the problem in terms I here paraphrase: During Mass I can exercise either a critical or a devotional faculty, and the two are mutually exclusive. If my critical faculty is alert,…
‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’ –The Gospel of Luke, 24:18
“What is this song or picture, this engaging personality presented in life or in a book, to me? What effect does it really produce on me? Does it give me pleasure? And if so, what…
We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. –William James, Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals