Much of our daily attention is devoted to the practical work of caring for a home. Meals need to be prepared, laundry folded, children cared for, and countless other responsibilities compete for our time. In the midst of these necessary tasks, beauty can begin to feel optional - a luxury reserved for people with artistic talent, beautifully decorated homes, or more free time than most of us have. Historically, Christians understood beauty quite differently. Beauty was never viewed as...

Much of modern life encourages us to separate the sacred from the ordinary. We think of worship as something that happens in church on Sunday morning. Prayer belongs to our devotional life, scripture belongs to Bible study, and service belongs to organized ministries. Meanwhile, the rest of the week is spent preparing meals, washing dishes, folding laundry, tending gardens, and caring for children, responsibilities that can easily begin to feel like interruptions to the things that really...

There are few days on the liturgical calendar that bring together two figures as different from one another as Peter and Paul. One was a fisherman from Galilee, impulsive, passionate, and deeply familiar with Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry. The other was a Pharisee from Tarsus, educated, zealous, and so committed to opposing the early Church that he held the coats of the men who stoned Stephen to death. And yet here they are, celebrated together on the same day. Two men who...