Though I never met Pope St. John Paul II, I did meet a Polish chicken named Karol Wojtyła . . . though he didn’t seem to understand my Polish. Many thanks to the Freid family for hosting me on their farm in southern Minnesota.

Friends, it was a joy to visit Lake City Catholic Worker Farm in the northeast part of the Winona-Rochester diocese. The farm was founded by Sara and Paul Freid, together with their three daughters, in 2007. Since then, the Freid family has welcomed visitors to their home and land from all walks of life. They have also provided housing for those without and educated hundreds in farming practices and sustainability. With this spirit of hospitality and generosity, the Freids have followed in the footsteps of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, the cofounders of the Catholic Worker Movement.  Servant of God Dorothy Day, pray for us!

Friends, what is the Church built upon? Not common consensus or aristocratic agreement but rather the mystical claim of Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter and his successors are given the prerogative of announcing this truth up and down the ages. And upon this rock, Christ builds his Church.

Friends, when Pope Benedict XVI first appeared on the loggia of St. Peter’s after his election, Cardinal Francis George had a remarkably pensive expression. When he was later asked about it, he said, “I was thinking about Rome and all the Roman emperors who lived over on the Palatine Hill. And then I was wondering, Where are they? Where are the Roman emperors? Where’s the successor of Julius Caesar or Augustus Caesar? They’re nowhere. The whole thing has turned to dust. But the successor of Peter, mysteriously, is right next to me waving at the crowds.”

Friends, when stepping into a Gothic cathedral, your eyes take a moment to adjust to the dim light. When they do, the sweeping luminosity of the nave is breathtaking.  As your eyes adjust, your mind naturally orders the parts of the whole. No detail in these structures was left to chance. The master builders ordered everything with mathematical precision, from the portals to the rose windows to the tripartite design of the cathedral itself, visible in its three entrance portals, three aisles, and three distinct levels.  Discover why these medieval buildings still hold such a powerful grip on the human soul:

Friends, Fulton Sheen observed that Simon Peter had a dual nature signified by his name—a nature that also applies to his successors and to the Church as a whole. The Simon side—unsure, unreliable, vacillating, impetuous—stands for the fallen, flawed, and scandal-ridden side of the Church. But the Peter side, Fulton Sheen insisted—Peter, Petrus, Cephas, the Rock—stands for the Church knowing who Jesus is and embodying that knowledge in its sacramental life and the witness of its saints.  The Church has a Simon dimension, sure, but it also has this Petrine dimension. This is why it endures through the ages, and why the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Friends, today we celebrate the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast is no sentimental ceremony. In the biblical world, whenever people spoke of kings or queens, they were speaking of warriors. Today, we recognize Mary as the warrior-queen engaged in a cosmic struggle against evil. The question for us is: Which side are we on? In which army do you serve?

Like many others, I have been alarmed by the success of certain politicians in our country who identify as extreme socialists or communists. This is not a matter of classical liberals triumphing over standard-issue conservatives; this is the victory of people who stand athwart the fundamental principles that undergird our country. There are many reasons why I detest Communism, but I want to draw attention to just one issue of supreme importance. Karl Marx said that the first critique is the critique of religion. He meant that, before a complete re-working of the politics and economics of a society can take place, religion has to be taken down. This is because religion, as he saw it, is the “opium of the masses,” a drug taken to dull our sensitivity to the suffering caused by economic exploitation. As long as the suffering populace is lured into complacency by fantasies about God's providence and the promise of eternal life, they will never rise up and throw off their chains. But there is a second reason why the elimination of religion is of paramount significance for Marx. Communism aspires to be a totalizing system, involving the government's control over education, entertainment, communication, politics, and especially economics. What stands resolutely athwart this ambition is religion, which declares that all of these societal expressions are finally under the judgment of God. So, if you want Communism to succeed, religion has to be stamped out. If you doubt me on any of this, I would encourage you to read the recent histories of China, Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Venezuela. Revisit those histories and tell me I'm wrong about the attack on religion. Might I encourage my fellow believers in God not to be complacent in the face of this very troubling development in the American body politic?

Friends, I recently read Vice President JD Vance’s new memoir. Many things struck me, among them that Vance has a certain Augustinian arc about him. My full review of “Communion” can be read in the link below: