‘I am so happy, I am so happy,” said Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., as he was dying in Dublin on June 8, 1889. As rich and resonant as any words in his poems, these words offer a multilayered commentary on his life and reputation. In 1889 he was happy to go to God as an unknown poet; in 20
One of the greatest Christian writers who ever lived is the unknown author of this ancient homily from the second century, a meditation on Holy Saturday. Happy Easter from the editors and staff of America.What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillnes
Listening WellRe “On Dying Well,” by Jessica Keating, and “Ars Moriendi” (Editorial, 3/16): People are often surprised when I tell them that in my 17 years as a hospice chaplain, I have had relatively few people discuss assisted suicide. Granted, it is illegal here and theref
Christ continues to suffer in his body today. How can we aid him?
For a long time, my experience as a public defender supported my belief that some people deserved life sentences. One client chilled me to the core. As a juvenile, he had graduated from burglary and auto theft to armed robbery, holding up three separate victims in the course of two days. The first v
I watch for it every Easter vigil, and every Easter vigil it happens—this Easter vigil right in front of me where I sat in the second row of the chapel expressly to see it; and once again I nearly burst into tears, because it is so beautiful and subtle and gentle and heartrending and amazing,
Even nowadays—or should I say especially nowadays?—the sight of two people very much in love still delights us. The world continues to love and make excuses for lovers. A truly great love story will fill the cinemas and top the list of best-sellers. Yet the modern world has come to belie