Sure, we can talk about excellence. But we shouldn’t accept as fact the idea that we can rank the worth of a piece of art. That is a fiction itself, a fundamental untruth.
Joe Hoover, S.J.
Joe Hoover, S.J., is America’s poetry editor and producer of a new film, “The Allegory.”
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
Thank God for Commandments
A Reflection for the First Monday of Lent, by Joe Hoover, S.J.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Sarcasm is rarely ever just teasing. More often than not, it hurts.
Can we ultimately trust the smirking ones in our midst, the sarcastic with a clever quip for our every move, for each vulnerable moment?
Posted inAdvent Reflections, Faith
How would the evangelists tell your story?
A Reflection for the Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
Posted inAdvent Reflections, Faith
The Sermon on the Mount flipped our world upside down
A Reflection for the Thursday of the First Week of Advent
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
When Thanksgiving gratitude comes with a side of guilt
How can we be grateful in a world filled with inequality?
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
Advent Dawns at the Sacred Cafe
he opened up the window for Dec 24 even though it was like Dec 3
Posted inFaith, Short Take
What should the U.S. bishops debate next? Here’s a list of topics that no one asked for
Many topics of great import were discussed at the meeting of the U.S. bishops. But they missed the mark on bingo, confession and whether cats possess prevenient grace.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The year the Twin Towers fell, the Yankees lost the World Series—and God could do nothing about it.
That heartbreaking baseball defeat seeming to distill and crystallize all of it; pointing to something so bleak, sad and hopeless tucked into the fabric of everything.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Whatever and ever Amen: Two Gen-X Catholics remember classic retreat songs.
Did the singer-songwriter era come about specifically to fill a demand by retreat directors for a poignant soundtrack to accompany the spiritual epiphanies of 16-year-olds?