In the 2008 film, Birdsong, Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra portrays the three kings’ trek toward the Holy Family. The black and white film unfolds like a dream, capturing the internal journey of the kings as they stumble through a bleak landscape, accompanied only by the song of birds. Other than their crowns and robes, they lack regal trappings. [...]
Medieval pilgrims often slept in churches, finding respite there during their arduous journeys. But locals, too, had a wonderful familiarity with their churches, treating them as homes away from home. They bathed and did laundry with water drawn from holy wells and ate the food that merchants sold in the aisles. The smoke billowing from [...]
In honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day on December 12th, I’m giving away 5 inscribed copies of Full of Grace: Encountering Mary in Faith, Art and Life! Full of Grace takes the reader inside the Virgin Mary’s world in ancient Palestine while showing how thoroughly she inhabits the 21st century. The book touches on [...]
In the days following Sept. 11, 2001, Michael Diaz constructed an impromptu memorial in Manhattan for his missing brother Matthew. It consisted of a Payless shoebox holding a pair of worn black shoes, neatly tied. The top of the box, propped up, served as a kind of headstone. A verse from the Gospel of Mark [...]
As I left the theater, having just seen The Tree of Life, a woman waiting in line to see it asked, “How was it?” Awesome! I said, just as another patron declared, Awful! And that pretty much sums up how Terrence Malick’s provocative new movie has been received.
On the last Sunday of every month, Father John Jamnicky gets on a scale. Within moments his weight loss is posted on a big chart in the fellowship room of his church. “At 65, I have probably lost and gained more weight than the whole parish combined!” says Jamnicky, laughing. So far, he’s lost 36 [...]
A while ago, just as summer was ending, I went to an art opening at Yale University. I met a student, a young girl about 18 years old, who possessed the kind of guileless beauty that needs no embellishment. As we talked in the heat of the crowded galleries, she took off her jacket, revealing [...]
Today, perhaps, judged by the media’s polished criteria, the historical Mary, a peasant girl from dusty Palestine, might not have looked good. But she was good. Over the past 2,000 years, the Virgin Mary’s face has been imagined anew by every generation. We depict her beauty according to current standards of attractiveness, re-inventing her to [...]
Luminous Transportations, installation by Jo Yarrington, Marquand Chapel, Yale Divinity School
Inspirational speaker Nicole Johnson uses my book, Churches, to deliver a powerful message of hope for everyone who feels invisible and taken for granted. I don’t know Nicole, but what she took away from Churches and how she brought the lessons of the Gothic cathedral builders to bear on today’s problems, blew me away. Watch, [...]
