In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.

I visited a woman this week in her home. She is on hospice and has limited mobility and doesn’t get out much. She had some questions about Catholicism. Turns out she wants to be Catholic and is well read on the Faith. She thought she had to go to nine months of classes. She’ll be Catholic by the end of September.

A (Catholic) Converts Guide to Death and Judgment *published in the October/November EOC Magazine* Our society today makes every effort to promote our earthly immortality and push death to the fringes of our psyche. Tech tycoon, Bryan Johnson, the subject of the documentary “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever” spends millions of dollars every year working hard to avoid death. He has turned his body into a science project and is convinced aging can be reversed. Additionally, many people are optimistic about A.I. and how it can cure diseases, discover new drugs, and help us live much longer and healthier lives. Some go further saying it’s easy to imagine an A.I. future where people no longer die. To that, I echo Jesus’ words, “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt. 15:14) Now, don’t get me wrong… I enjoy the health benefits of 21st century American society. I am grateful for access to nutritious food, clean water, sewage systems, and shelter. I am grateful for anesthesia (invented in the 19th century), antisepsis, antibiotics, blood transfusions, and advanced medicine. I am grateful to not live in a country and time ravaged by plagues or wars. But… we must know this extension of life does something to the formation of our soul and the seriousness by which we pursue the God of Holiness. Not only are we delaying adulthood and the virtues which free us (read the stats!), but we ignoring the will of God for our lives, because we can “deal with Him later.” … In the month of November we turn our attention to the reality of death and the hope of our eternal reward. We ask the saints for their intercessory prayer (All Saints Day: Nov. 1st) and take to heart the lives they lived. We pray for the faithfully departed (All Souls Day: Nov. 2nd), those enduring their purgative pilgrimage, on their way to the loving Face of God. We grieve their loss, but not without hope. This acknowledgement and meditation on death and judgment in the month of November is good, beautiful and true, for it gains us a heart of wisdom. The Psalmists often point us to the brevity of our lives, a truth which ought to shape our life choices here and now. (Ps. 39, 103 & 90) “O Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is…” As a convert to Catholicism I noticed that the inclusion of prayers for the dead is a distinguished part of Catholic life. Every week we pray for the dead at Mass, offering sacrifice on their behalf. We have candles to light in their memory - aiding our prayer for God’s mercy to shine bright on their journey. We have icons, statues and images of saints which surround us, reminding us of our ultimate purpose in life: to be a saint. Leon Bloy famously said, “the only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to became a saint.” The pursue of sainthood assumes the necessity of a natural death. But there used to be more.. before parishes were surrounded by parking lots, playgrounds, and other buildings or homes, they were surrounded by gravestones. For much of history, the Church, the altar, and the cemetery, made up the physical parish community. The dead were not removed from the life of the Church; they remained physically present among the living. After all, the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered for the Church militant (those of us still on earth) and the Church Suffering (those souls being purified in purgatory), so it makes sense for both groups of people to surround the altar, joining in with the Church Triumphant: the angels and saints worshipping the Lamb that was Slain. This is still true for many rural parishes, to their benefit, but for most modern, urban Catholics, death is out of sight and therefore mostly out of mind. We don’t walk past grandma and grandpa’s headstone to enter through the parish doors. In turn, Ash Wednesday becomes the only day we “remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.” What’s my point in all of this? Losing sight of death hinders our preparation for our judgments (particular and final), which is something Jesus seemed to be very intent on teaching about. Our Lord did not treat death and judgment as an obscure theological footnote. He repeatedly warns us that our lives have an eternal consequence. His parables - and teaching at large - speak again and again of watchfulness, accountability, separation, judgment, hell, heaven, and the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus and His Apostles constantly tell us, what we choose to do with our lives matter. We have the freedom to choose communion with God or absence from Him. One path leads to eternal life, the other to eternal death. Jesus says in Matthew 16:27, “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” This is what Paul repeats in Romans 2:6, “God will repay each person according to what they have done.” The Church teaches, “Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven — through a purification or immediately, — or immediate and everlasting damnation.” (CCC 1022) But here I want to add in an important point: all who die in friendship with God will be perfected in love and enjoy the blessedness of heaven (yes and amen!), but - and here is the distinction - we die with different capacities for love, based on how we cooperated with God’s grace in our earthly pilgrimage. St. Thomas Aquinas discusses this with language of “saints and their mansions” teaching something akin to water vessels and their differing sizes. One vessel holds ten gallons and the other five. Both will be full in heaven, neither will be proud, and neither will envy, but they will be different in size. One will participate in the glory of God more than the other. This is the teaching of the Council of Florence which states that souls are received into heaven where they “clearly behold the triune God himself, one and three, as He is, yet one more perfectly than another according to the difference of merits.” So as we turn our attention to our mortality through our prayers for, and petitions to, the dead, may we invite the Lord to purge us from our sinful attachments, preparing us for heavenly glory. May our hope and desire to be “referred to Christ” at our death, be the fuel which ignites our flame of our life. More than wanting to avoid hell, may we desire to become holy - large vessels - capable of receiving and returning here and now, and one day ever more fully, the love and glory of God. Let us ponder in the coming months this question: “what kind of person am I becoming?” You might not like your answer, but here is the Good News: the mercy of God is always near, it’s never too late to reroute.

Underrated life advice: Keep proof that good things happen to you. Old photos. Kind messages. Positive feedback. Notes from great days. Whatever. Store them in a single place. Call it a Rainy Day Folder. Pop it open on a bad day and watch your mood turn. It's a free reset button.

Marie-Garance, the girl Pope Leo XIV blessed during his visit to France, was once a ward of the state before being adopted by a Catholic family. Her parents already had six biological children when they opened their home to three more children with disabilities, including Marie-Garance, who lives with profound multiple disabilities.

Failed influencer marriages make NYT headlines. Ordinary faithful marriages don't. But out in ordinary America, churchgoers are markedly less likely to divorce. 👇🏽