The Journal
Journal
Reflections on the Rosary, the feasts of the Church, and the making of things meant for prayer.
August 11, 2026
Turn Me Over: St. Lawrence and the Treasures of the Church
Ordered to surrender the Church's wealth, the deacon who kept its books asked for three days. He came back with the poor of Rome. It was not a gesture. It was an accurate statem...
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August 8, 2026
The Legend Is the Weakest Thing About Him: St. Dominic and the Rosary
Tradition says Our Lady placed the first rosary in his hands in a French forest. The men who knew him never mentioned it. What his order actually did is the better story, and it...
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August 6, 2026
It Is Good For Us to Be Here: The Transfiguration and the Mountain You Cannot Stay On
Peter wanted to build tents and stay. Six days earlier, Jesus had told them plainly that he was going to be killed. The Transfiguration was not a reward. It was provisioning, is...
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August 4, 2026
I Look at Him, and He Looks at Me: St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars
He nearly failed out of seminary and was sent to a village of two hundred and thirty people who had stopped caring. Within thirty years, twenty thousand pilgrims a year were com...
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August 1, 2026
The Prayer You Say Last: St. Alphonsus Liguori and the Glories of Mary
Naples' finest young lawyer lost one case and never argued another. What he wrote instead is built entirely on the prayer you say at the end of every Rosary.
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July 31, 2026
The Cannonball and the Cave: St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Prayer of the Imagination
A cannonball shattered his leg and his ambitions in the same instant. What rose from that sickbed changed how the world prays.
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July 29, 2026
The House at Bethany: Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, the Friends Jesus Loved
There was one house where Jesus was not the Teacher or the Wonder-worker, but simply the Friend. The Church keeps its whole household as saints.
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July 26, 2026
The Grandparents of Jesus: Sts. Joachim and Anne, and the Faith That Is Handed Down
Jesus had grandparents. Scripture never names them, but the Church has remembered them for nearly two thousand years, and every grandmother who ever taught a child to pray keeps...
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July 25, 2026
The Chalice and the Road: St. James the Greater, First of the Twelve to Fall
He asked for a throne beside Christ. He was given a chalice instead, and drank it first of all the apostles.
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July 22, 2026
Apostle of the Apostles: St. Mary Magdalene and the Name Spoken at Dawn
The Twelve fled. She stayed. And on Easter morning, the risen Lord spoke one word: her name.
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