by Father Robert Lauder Fourth in a series I HAVE BEEN trying to remember when I last read an essay as provocative as Father Gerald M. Fagin’s “Are We Relating to God in a New Way,” which first appeared in the Review for Religious, November-December, 1993. Father Fagin’s essay speaks to my experience of […]
Arts and Culture
Fr. Robert Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University and the author of “Pope Francis’ Spirituality and Our Story” (Resurrection Press).
Experience of Relating to God
by Father Robert Lauder Second in a series In last week’s column, I tried to convey the excitement and enthusiasm that was part of my experience in reading Jesuit Father Gerald Fagin’s excellent essay “Are We Relating to God in a New Way?,” which originally appeared in the Review for Religious, 1993, pp. 817-827. In […]
Surrounded by the Grace of God’s Love
by Father Robert Lauder AS ADVENT WINDS down, I imagine all of us, in different ways, look forward to the great feast of Christmas. There is a sense in which every time we pray, we are celebrating the feast of Christmas because all our prayers unite us with the Incarnate God. Still, I think it is […]
‘Reel Faith’ on Christmas Films
by Father Robert Lauder BECAUSE I AM a regular on the television show “Reel Faith,” I am a little self-conscious about praising the show, which appears on NET-TV on Fridays at 8 p.m. and at other times during this holiday season. The show returns in February for an Academy Awards special and during the summer months. […]
Called to Be People of Hope
by Father Robert Lauder Sixth and last in a series IN THE NOV. 2, 2013 issue of The Tablet, there was a small notice about a homily that Pope Francis had given on Oct. 29. Taking as his text St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:18-25), the pope suggested that hope was harder to understand than […]
Seeing God from God’s Point of View
by Father Robert Lauder Fifth in a series From the time that Pope Francis was elected, there has been considerable speculation about what having a Jesuit as pope will mean for the Church. I went to Xavier High School, a Jesuit high school situated on West 16th Street in Manhattan. I imagine all the Jesuits who […]
Pope Francis on Art
by Father Robert Lauder Fourth in a series I ENJOY READING interviews with celebrities – at least sometimes. If the interviewee is an actor or actress whom I admire, I hope that the interview will reveal the person as someone to admire, not only on the stage or screen, but also in real life. Even […]
Encountering God in the World
by Father Robert Lauder Third in a series A NUMBER OF my friends have mentioned to me that Pope Francis reminds them of Pope John XXIII. Parts of his now-famous interview that was published in September in several Jesuit magazines also caused me to think of John XXIII. That may be due to Pope Francis’ […]
God’s Love for Sinners
by Father Robert Lauder Second in a series Reading through for the third time the “famous” interview that the pope gave in August and which was published in Jesuit magazines throughout the world in late September, I continue to find that Pope Francis is giving me wonderful, insightful and hope-filled advice about how I should […]
Illuminating Who We Are and Who God Is
by Father Robert Lauder I suppose that on any given Sunday, the readings from the Mass stress the evil of sin and the graciousness of God. The power of the Word of God to touch us and move us probably depends to some extent on our attention, sincerity and willingness to be touched or even […]