Holy Smokes: Habemus Papem

May 20, 2025.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Latins and Sabines may have watched for smoke / From the Vatican Hill across the way / Wondering if a careless shepherd had set a fire / Beyond the Seven Hills of holy Rome

Shakespeare & Chinese Verse

April 22, 2025.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Dear Will, / About your obsession with mortality: / Transitions and death are essentials in life / And we must face the obsequies of ashes or earth / But there are other topics upon which to write

Books for St. George’s Day

April 19, 2025.Reading time 39 minutes.

By Amanda Pizzolatto … “When is anyone going to be able to read on St. George’s Day?” Porter laughed. “Oh, we just give the books on St. George’s Day, we don’t start reading until we’ve finished cleaning the next day. It’s why we get that day off.”

Fragments of Life and Literature

April 15, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … We have mysterious runic messages still / Appearing this morning – there, on the road – see them?

Fragments of Life

April 8, 2025.Reading time 5 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … The seasons pass and footsteps pass, leaves fall / But nothing changes for those frozen in place / By the decrees of stasis and stagnancy / Progress blocked by torpidity and time

Une Joke

April 1, 2025.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Jordan Ellis Christensen … In the netherness of my person / A fine instrument I do possess. / From which trumpets fine tonal arson. / Such odorous notes I oft obsess.

Lady Day Lullaby

March 25, 2025.Reading time 3 minutes.

By Amanda Pizzolatto … Hush little darling, don’t say a word
I will tell you about the Mother of our Lord / And how one day a great angel came / Surprising her by calling her by name…

We Know Where The Holy Grail Is

March 11, 2025.Reading time 7 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … We know where the Holy Grail is / Each Sunday we see it on the Altar / As a cup, indifferent in its origins / In the catalogue of a church supply…

Your Favorite Author is Nothing Without You

March 4, 2025.Reading time 7 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … When I was a child I read without discipline: / Robert A. Heinlein, Robin Hood, cowboy yarns / Pirates raiding across the Spanish Main / Penrod and Sam, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn…

Each Birthday is a Step in the Right Direction

February 25, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … A birthday is not the beginning of something new / But rather part of a continuing story / From its Prologue and its Chapter One / Through the dark leaves of Mirkwood and beyond

Faithful Friday – St. Valentine

February 14, 2025.Reading time 2 minutes.

By Ian Wilson What is known about St. Valentine is scant and open to conjecture, shrouded in legend. It is difficult to separate fact from fable, to the point that in 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed Valentine from their official calendar due to lack of evidence for his existence. Valentine may not even have […]

Winter 2025: Anthropology

February 12, 2025.Reading time 3 minutes.

Join us as we explore God & Science through Anthropology! This issue contains poetry exploring human nature, masterfully crafted articles on heart, horror, and humanity, an interview about adoption, and more.

Forming a Committee Around a Car That Wouldn’t Start

February 11, 2025.Reading time 2 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … The engine wouldn’t turn over; the electrics were dead / We stood around the open hood, each scratching his head…

Late January is a Time of Grey

January 28, 2025.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … I read a little in Billy Collins just now / Because Tolkien is in the other room / Along with the laundry and an unmade bed / Late January is a time of grey…

Faithful Friday – Gregory of Nyssa

January 10, 2025.Reading time 5 minutes.

By Ian Wilson (G) Considered the most astute of the three Cappadocian Fathers, the man who would become Gregory of Nyssa was born into a large, devout Christian family sometime in the fourth century. His older brother was none other than Basil of Caesarea, another one of the Cappadocian Fathers. Together with Gregory of Nazianzus, […]

Another Turn Of The Year

January 7, 2025.Reading time 5 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … About this new year – it doesn’t look so new / But the first sunlight in the bare oak trees / And upon last summer’s ground-shoaling leaves / Lead me to pull on my boots and step outside

Red One: Law and Gospel at Christmastide

January 2, 2025.Reading time 8 minutes.

By Ian Wilson Like millions of Americans, I saw the movie Red One over the Christmas holiday. It was a great film, and like all good stories, it revealed an even deeper truth about the nature of reality. I must warn you that this article will contain numerous spoilers, so if you haven’t seen Red […]

Did You Enjoy Your Christmas?

December 31, 2024.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … That merry little Christmas that they sing about – / Did you open your gifts around a tree / Tinsel and ornaments and a brilliant star / Pajamas and cocoa and merriment…

The O Antiphons, the Star, and Us

December 24, 2024.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Solstice is not a time when the sun stands still / But rather a season when the sun stands aside / That we may better know the mysteries of deep night / In darkness just before deep Light returns

Winter 2025 Photo Contest

December 23, 2024.Reading time less than 1 minute.

We are holding a contest for the best picture that encapsulates Winter. The winning entry will be put on the Table of Contents page of our Winter issue. Other entries will be displayed on another page.