Before long I had tears in my eyes—and not from the uneven grooves worn into the wood by pilgrims’ knees. Something about the physical discomfort helped me to focus on the much greater pain Jesus had felt on those same stairs.

The most compelling reason not to execute the convicted is an existential one: We humans are not God.

In the culture of the shout, the intimate heat of the crucible of suffering is replaced by the heat of the Klieg lights, which reveal without transforming.

The second of Rome’s station churches is dedicated to a soldier-saint, George of Lydda. Soldier-martyrs seem to have left a particular mark on the memory of Roman Christians.

Watching my daughter learn from others has taught me I should not underestimate my daughter, my church or my God.

A conversation with the celebrity sister of college basketball