Again, I hear almost everyday from atheists who write off religion as primitive, premodern nonsense. I summon Aquinas, Augustine, Paul [of Tarsus], Teresa of Avila, Joseph Ratzinger, and Edith Stein-in all their intellectual rigor-as allies in the the struggle against this dismissive atheism.

The human race is one big dysfunctional family.

If the Word truly became flesh, then God had not only a mother, but also a grandmother, cousins, great-aunts, and weird uncles. If the Word truly dwelt among us, then he was part of a family that, like most, was fairly dysfunctional, a mix of the good and bad, the saintly and the sinful, the glorious and the not so glorious. And this is such good news for us.

We are exceptionally good at seeing the faults in others and exceptionally adept at ignoring the faults in ourselves.

Turn your car into a monastery.

Easter is an earthquake, an explosion. If you see it as less than that, you're not getting it.

Both total accommodation to the culture and total resistance to it are usually signs of intellectual sickness.