This article was originally published in The Catholic News Herald of the diocese of Charlotte. “And who knows if you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” These are the words spoken to Queen Esther in the Old Testament, when she is being asked to risk the wrath of her husband the king in order to save the lives of the Israelites. Esther is asked to endanger her own comfort and security, even her life, for the sake of her people. As the Jewish people were facing annihilation, Esther herself was in no immediate danger in the palace of the king, as long as she remained silent about her heritage. However, she recognized the privileged position she had been given by God, and she used her voice to sway the heart of the king to mercy. I love the Book of Esther, for it has something of the elements of a fairy tale. A beautiful, kind queen; a powerful, imposing king; dark plots of vengeance and malice, and the ultimate triumph of good and of truth. Esther was raised up from obscurity to become queen, given riches and jewels, was beautiful and beloved by all, but she never lost her meekness, humility and devotion to the Lord. And when it mattered, she was willing to sacrifice everything she had, even her very life, to speak the truth to the king, whether he would hear it or no. We see a similar scene in the New Testament, as the wife of Pontius Pilate risks the scorn and anger of court officials to plead on behalf of Jesus. She is the only one to speak up in his...

This article was originally published in The Catholic News Herald of the diocese of Charlotte. Mary Magdalene has been a complex character in Christian thought throughout Church history. She has been variously identified as Mary of Magdala; the “sinful woman” of Luke 7:36-50 who anoints Christ’s feet and dries them with her hair; and Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. What we know from Scripture is that Mary of Magdala was one of the women who followed Jesus during His ministry in Galilee, that He exorcised seven demons from her, that she was present at the foot of the cross, and that she was the first to discover the empty tomb and witness the Risen Christ. Especially in modern times, it has been common to represent Mary Magdalene as simply a reformed prostitute and leave things at that, though she was never considered as such in the Early Church. And thanks to the fictions of Dan Brown and his popular novel “The Da Vinci Code,” there is now also the false belief that she was actually the wife of Jesus during His time on earth, a claim that is completely unfounded in any historicity. There is certainly a tangled web to pick apart the various impressions and ideas that have clouded around Mary Magdalene through the centuries, but there is also an abundant richness when one simply focuses on what we are given in the Gospels. One of the ideas I have been strongly drawn to is that regardless of whether she was the “sinful woman” in Luke or what it was exactly...

This article was originally published in The Catholic News Herald of the diocese of Charlotte. One of my favorite books for meditating on Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary is Caryll Houselander’s “The Reed of God.” I was introduced to this book just a few years ago and it has since become one that I return to quite often for contemplation. Houselander’s prose writing is as lyrical as her poetry, which is also sprinkled throughout the book, and makes for a beautifully slow and contemplative read. The rhythms of the writing invite one to frequently pause and reflect; and the intimacy and depth of the ideas bring an immediacy and relatable quality to those reflections. The aspects of Our Lady’s life that Houselander focuses on in this slim volume are simple ones, yet profound in the context of Divine Revelation. The simplicity of a young girl giving her “yes” to God, which on the surface meant only continuing to lead the ordinary life that she was already set to lead: to be married to a good man, to work in the home and to care for her family. Yet that “yes” changed the course of human history. The simple agreement to bear a child and to live the everyday life of a mother brought God Himself to humanity. God did not even ask her to separate herself from the world as He came to dwell within her. As Houselander says, “No, He asked for her ordinary life shared with Joseph. She was not to neglect her simple human tenderness, her love for an earthly man, because God was her unborn...

This article was originally published in The Catholic News Herald of the diocese of Charlotte. I have always been an avid re-reader of books, just as I also delight in re-watching favorite movies and television series. In some ways, this is due to finding comfort in the familiar and predictable, knowing that my imagination is not going to be assailed by inappropriate or untimely thoughts and images. But I have also learned that the pieces I enjoy returning to can be treasure troves, with new ideas and insights to be gained on each visit, and they can also be balms for an anxious mind over-burdened by the constant influx of the 24-hour news cycle. In the past few years, I have reread (or listened to the audiobooks) of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series multiple times. These are stories I grew up with as a child, at least the first few books. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader were staples of my childhood, though most of the others I did not read until I was grown. But my frequent returns to these books as an adult are not just for nostalgic reasons (there are plenty of books that I loved as a child but find rather tedious now). I return to them because of the rich theological and philosophical thought that Lewis put into them. In The Horse and His Boy, the most underrated of the Narnia books in my opinion, the Christ-like character of Aslan teaches many valuable lessons to the children throughout the story. The most...