The Bird at the Window
Sunday night as our weekly Holy Hour started, when I was kneeling to chant O Salutaris Hostia, I could see a bird flying around the window above the sanctuary.
Not frantically. Not trapped. Dancing, it seemed.
I was reminded of my anchor Gospel passage for this year - Matthew 6:33: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."
This has been a week of thresholds. Matthew graduated from high school on Sunday. Andrew graduated from St. Elizabeth School on Monday - the last of our four boys to finish Catholic grade school. And ten days ago, I walked out of Adobe for the last time.
Three endings. Three beginnings. Three moments of stepping into something you cannot fully see.
The bird in the window works - it flies, it searches, it builds nests. But it does not worry. That is the invitation of Matthew 6. Not passivity or anxiety, but something in between.
I am trying to learn from that bird.
Read the full reflection: The Bird at the Window
This Sunday: Pentecost
I'm preaching at all three Masses this Sunday.
The thread I'm pulling: the Spirit that descended at Pentecost came from somewhere. The Church Fathers - Chrysostom, Augustine - taught that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ on the Cross. Blood and water flowed out, and with them, the sacraments.
The pierced Heart is the furnace. The Holy Spirit is the fire that comes forth.
In less than a month, on June 11th - the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart - the bishops of the United States will consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But consecration is not magic. It requires our presence to receive what the Heart pours out.
The bishops have issued a challenge: 250 hours of Adoration across every parish, leading up to the consecration. I'll be inviting St. Elizabeth to take this seriously.
And how do we know if the Spirit is at work in us? Not the dramatic signs - the quiet ones. The Fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Don't look for the fire. Look for the Fruit.
Pope Leo's AI Encyclical
This Sunday, May 25th, Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical: Magnifica Humanitas: On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
The Pope signed it on May 15th - the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII's landmark 1891 encyclical on workers' rights during the Industrial Revolution. The choice is deliberate. Pope Leo XIV believes we are living through another industrial revolution, and the Church owes the world its social teaching on human dignity, labor, and justice.
One quote that has stayed with me, from a high school student who asked Pope Leo about using ChatGPT for homework:
"Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think."
This will be worth reading carefully when it drops. More was in today's (and will be in future) Domus Daily.
Lux Perpetua
The serial novel continues.
The Living Thread (Mondays): Joshua is deeper into his grandfather's papers now. Chapter 10 is live. The documents are starting to form a pattern he doesn't yet understand.
The Lost Crown (Thursdays): Chapter 6 released last week - the witness accounts are accumulating. The light that was never put out.
Two Lamps
This Friday: Issue 03 - "The Express to Euston"
Saint Vincent of Lérins and Saint John Henry Newman. A first-class compartment on the London and North Western Railway, somewhere between Birmingham and London, an evening in the autumn of 1888.
Newman is eighty-seven years old, holding a book he wrote forty-three years earlier. He looks up to find a fifth-century Gallic monk seated across from him, come at last to ask what Newman meant.
The story drops Friday at 6 AM Central.
What I'm Reading
Pope Leo XIV's Encyclical on AI Is Coming: Here's What He Has Said So Far - OSV News A comprehensive overview of Pope Leo's statements on AI since his election - from deepfakes to labor to the meaning of truth.
The Vatican Has Said a Lot About Artificial Intelligence - US News A primer ahead of the encyclical, including the new Vatican AI study group.
What I'm Praying This Week
For the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost - on all of us, on what we're building, on the Church.
For Matthew and Andrew as they step into new chapters.
For wisdom as we read and reflect on Magnifica Humanitas when it releases.
For all of you navigating your own thresholds.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Domus Formation
WeAreDomus.com - Start a free trial. Hearth & Altar for families. Eventide & Altar for the second half of life. Iron & Altar for men. Vessel & Altar for women. One reading. Five minutes. Every day.
WeAreDomus.com/Daily - The free daily email. Catholic news for families - including coverage of the upcoming encyclical. No subscription required.
Final Word
"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
— Matthew 6:26
Seek first the kingdom. The rest will be added.
Michael
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