The Small Room at La Strada
Two Lamps, Issue 13: Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Bridget of Sweden, the small room at the church of Santa Maria della Strada, Rome, the night of July 30 into July 31, 1556
Deacon Michael Halbrook
Faith, family, work, and life - all intertwined.
Permanent deacon of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Husband, father of four sons, builder of Catholic technology, and writer of essays, fiction, and homilies.
The Other Side, 1938
What follows is drawn from a set of internal documents recovered from the archive of an organization calling itself the Institut pour l'Etude de l'Ordre Historique, based in Paris, covering the period 1931 to 1940.
Ad Alta ↗
Reflections
What I Couldn't See Then
When I first took a Director role at Adobe, I thought I knew what I was saying yes to. I didn't. On the two traps that catch honest people in a career transition - and what the identity question actually wants.
The Photographs
The photographs from Madrid arrived on a Monday, thirty-seven pages as promised, in a folder that Claire brought to Thursday and set on the pew beside her without comment.
The Hermitage in Mount Lebanon
Two Lamps, Issue 12: Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Charbel Makhluf, the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul at Annaya, Mount Lebanon, an evening in the third week of December 1898
The Toledo Keeper
What follows is drawn from the marginalia of a theological commentary held in a private collection in Madrid, photographed in July 2026 by a researcher acting on behalf of the Vatican Apostolic Archive.
Ad Alta ↗
Identity
The Question Underneath
He sat down and told me he thought he was done climbing. He wasn't sure he was allowed to say that. What surfaced next changed how I think about every career decision - my own included.
The Phone Call
She called on a Wednesday evening, which was not what he had been expecting.
Building Something
What We Released This Weekend
On prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and the work I was made for
