The First Thing To Say About Politics

Optimism Is A Matter Optics, Of Seeing What You Want To See And Not Seeing What You Don't Want To See. Hope, On The Other Hand, Is A Christian Virtue. It Is The Unblinking Acknowledgment Of All That Militates Against Hope, And The Unrelenting Refusal To Despair. We Have Not The Right To Despair, And, Finally, We Have Not The Reason To Despair

Every Day Of The Year Is A Good Day To Think More Deeply About Good Friday, For Good Friday Is The Drama Of The Love By Which Our Every Day Is Sustained.

Disguise Is Central To God's Way Of Dealing With Us Human Beings. Not Because God Is Playing Games With Us But Because The God Who Is Beyond Our Knowing Makes Himself Known In The Disguise Of What We Can Know. The Christian Word For This Is Revelation, And The Ultimate Revelation Came By Incarnation. ... God Is The Master Of Disguises, In Order That We Might See.

The First Thing To Say About Politics Is That Politics Is Not The First Thing.

Consumerism Is, Quite Precisely, The Consuming Of Life By The Things Consumed. It Is Living In A Manner That Is Measured By Having Rather Than Being... And Consumerism Is Hardly The Sin Of The Rich. The Poor, Driven By Discontent And Envy, May Be As Consumed By What They Do Not Have As The Rich Are Consumed By What They Do Have. The Question Is Not, Certainly Not Most Importantly, A Question About Economics. It Is First And Foremost A Cultural And Moral Problem Requiring A Cultural And Moral Remedy.