Blog
Barbecues, Gratitude, and Beauty
A Memorial Day Worth Living Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer. The air smells like barbecue. Kids run barefoot through freshly cut grass. The patio gets swept, the lawn chairs dragged out, and someone always forgets the mustard. It’s the kind of...
2022: A Year of Growth for TOB Institute!
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, What a year 2022 was for Theology of the Body Institute! Thanks to you, we were busier than ever spreading St. John Paul II’s Theology of Body to a world that needs to hear this healing, hopeful, life-changing teaching more than ever....
A Saint Says “Yes” to God’s Life-Giving Seed
[NOTE: The following is excepted and revised from Word Made Flesh (Cycle B) by Christopher West. Order the three-cycle bundle here.] Today's second reading for the Feast of All Saints exudes Saint John’s exuberant joy when he proclaims: “See what love the Father has...
The Holy Spirit and Mary: Model of the Nuptial Union of God with Humanity
As we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, I invite you to read this meditation from St. John Paul II on the glorious “nuptials” revealed through the feast. This is a private translation of an address not publicly available in English. May it lead...
Are You Missing Out on the Real Benefits of Lenten Fasts and Sacrifices?
Lent is upon us and Catholics around the world are embracing various forms of fasting and abstinence in preparation for the holiest week of the year. But why do we fast? How does saying no to food or other bodily pleasures actually increase our love for God? Christian...
When Mystique Obscures Mystery — Some Truths About Holy Icons
Do we write or paint icons? Do you have to fast and pray before you create one? Is the saint present in the icon just as Christ is present in the Blessed Sacrament? In the course of writing and talking about icons I am often asked about the following: Is it true that...
The Parable Of The Prodigal Son
The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) forms a narrative for repentance at its different stages. Again this is a traditional reflection for Christians entering into the Lenten period. Sin is exile, repentance is the return from exile to our true home. We also...
Preparation for Lent — The Publican and the Pharisee
The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (or the Pharisee and the Tax Collector) is a parable of Jesus that appears in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 18:9-14, a self-righteous Pharisee, obsessed by his own virtue, is contrasted with a tax collector who humbly asks...
2020 Year In Review
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, It's been a trying and humbling year for everyone due to Covid-19. We continue to pray for the Institute community's needs, especially those who lost loved ones from Covid or other reasons. Another cultural sea change from the...
Is There Someone You Need to Forgive This Christmas?
Justice and Mercy in The Man Who Invented Christmas A dear friend of mine once shared with me a deep pain in his heart when I asked about his father. His parents divorced when he and his siblings were very young, and in the bitterness and anger at the father that...
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