On the close of the Year of Faith, Pope Francis has promulgated an Apostolic Exhortation titled Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). A pdf version of the document is available here. This is the first papal document largely written by Pope Francis himself. Though the document cannot adequately be reduced to one sentence, it […]

I heard a story in seminary of a pastor who made late night visits to a local diner when he couldn’t sleep. Prostitutes frequently visited the diner and the pastor couldn’t help overhearing some of their conversations as he sat reading. He was grieved as he gathered bits and pieces of these women’s tragic lives. […]

Every story features the action of a protagonist who is hindered by an antagonist. This makes for an essential conflict, the development and resolution of which constitutes the basic structure of the story. Every human life is very much a story. Each person is the protagonist, and the enemy is death.