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September 2017

September 22, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Cellar Door”

I love poems that stitch together memories from opposite ends of a lifetime, connecting them...

August 2016

August 05, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Onesimus”

In this month of painful national and international news, Tania Runyan’s poem “Onesimus” offers a...

July 2016

July 19, 2016

Risen

In a well-written and well-acted scene from Kevin Reynolds and Paul Aiello’s recent film, Risen,...

May 2016

May 23, 2016

The Prophet of Uninterrupted Complaint

I am grateful for deadlines, even when I have little time, or only brief windows...

May 09, 2016

Thin Places, Part 1

A few summers ago, my husband Tom and I were in Dublin for a week,...

April 2016

April 19, 2016

The Wounds of Resurrection

As my husband prepared for an Easter sermon a few weeks ago, our dinnertime conversations...

April 12, 2016

Charles of the Desert

By Rebecca A. Spears One early June, traveling to a wedding in San Diego, I’d...

April 11, 2016

A Strange Season for Inter-Christian Families

American culture, at this late and plural hour, seems to have pretty well normalized the...

April 06, 2016

James Tate: Finding the Ultimate in the Ordinary

The poet James Tate died last year. It happened in July. He was seventy-one years...

April 05, 2016

A Dancing Christ

On Holy Saturday, I woke up at my sister's house in northern Minnesota with a...

March 2016

March 31, 2016

A Rabbi, a Priest, and a Wedding: Part 2

Read Part 1 here. By Danielle Leshaw Judaism tells us how to leave. Leaving the...

March 29, 2016

Believing in the Beach Boys

The first church I attended as a teenaged new believer swiftly taught me two doctrines:...

March 18, 2016

Dancing on the Way to Prison

By John Bryant I’m standing in a circle with thirty singing and swaying old men...

March 10, 2016

Praying the Rosary

By Laura Bramon My first rosary is invisible: a string of children’s voices ricocheting off...

March 03, 2016

My Sh’ma

By Judy Bolton-Fasman Sh’ma yisrael Adonai Elohanu Adonai echad—Hear O’ Israel the Lord is God,...

January 2016

January 15, 2016

Honey, I Want a Tattoo

By Brad Fruhauff If Katie had had a tattoo when we met, I probably would...

December 2015

December 29, 2015

God is Sacrificial Love

If God is love, as we’re told, then what kind of love is he? In...

November 2015

November 13, 2015

Poetry Friday: “Mixed Company” by Brett Foster

Each Friday at Good Letters we feature a poem from the pages of Image, selected and...

June 2015

June 19, 2015

Is the Gospel Good News or Bad?

Continuing a little bit what I started with my essay “What Is a Christian?,” I’ve...

June 09, 2015

The Thing Itself: Art and Poverty, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. How should we treat the poor? Among those who work on...

June 08, 2015

The Thing Itself: Art and Poverty, Part 1

The following is adapted from a presentation given at the Dominican School of Philosophy and...

June 01, 2015

Charlie Hebdo and the Inner Soul of Humor

My friend Justin Smith recently wrote a piece for Harper’s Magazine. Justin is a brilliant...

May 2015

May 14, 2015

Contemplative Questions: An Interview on Spirituality and Prayer with Fr. Raymond Shore, OP, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. Jan Vallone: You say that joy is the knowledge of the possession...

May 13, 2015

Contemplative Questions: An Interview on Spirituality and Prayer with Fr. Raymond Shore, OP, Part 1

Spurred by both confusion and curiosity, I recently took a graduate course on contemporary spirituality...

May 01, 2015

Jesus and Legos in the Deep, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. “Judas the transgressor,” we Eastern Orthodox sing during Holy Friday Matins,“was unwilling...

April 2015

April 30, 2015

Jesus and Legos in the Deep, Part 1

I read about a shipping container holding five million Lego pieces that fell into the...

April 17, 2015

Jesus Through Poets’ Eyes

In my Catholic faith, Easter lasts for seven weeks, until Pentecost; so I'm not too...

April 13, 2015

No Glory in Jericho

I was standing with a Palestinian Muslim and three Jews. Jericho. The ancient city. Some...

April 03, 2015

It Is Finished: Christ’s Words from the Cross

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head,...

April 02, 2015

The Kiss of Judas

When Judas approached Jesus in the Garden and kissed him, how do you think Jesus...