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Moms at Mass are heroes—not unlike the soldiers who landed at Iwo Jima. Children open us up to radical charity—the kind lived by martyrs. Obscure priests in backwoods France can change the world—not by debating, but by loving God. And a little bottle of holy water—available for free at any Catholic church—proves that the most precious things in life have no price.
These are just a few of the extraordinary everyday insights of philosopher Michael Pakaluk, who attests that Christian sanctity is far nearer and far more beautiful than we think. With erudition and intellectual rigor, Professor Pakaluk sets his sights on some of the simplest truths of the Catholic faith and discovers that they are truly electrifying: the grace of infant Baptism, the earth-shaking event of transubstantiation, the extreme love of the saints, the surrendered fatherhood of Joseph, and the romance of chastity.
“Behold,” calls Jesus, “I make all things new.” Guided by both faith and reason, readers of The Shock of Holiness can see this newness with their own eyes.
Michael Pakaluk received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University, under John Rawls. A professor at the Catholic University of America and an authority on Aristotelian ethics, his recent books include Mary’s Voice in the Gospel According to John, Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel, and The Memoirs of Saint Peter. The father of fifteen children, he is married to the economist and social philosopher Catherine Pakaluk, Ph.D.
“Holiness is indeed shocking. Pakaluk’s essays provide the shock therapy needed to rouse our hearts to the possibility and raise our minds to the eternal. His pleasing prose and winsome style make holiness so attractive that we feel we’ve been made for it. Which we have. He beautifully conveys both the grandeur and the simplicity of sanctity.”
—Very Rev. Paul Scalia, Author, That Nothing May Be Lost
“Nietzsche wrote that modern man has replaced morning prayer with the morning newspaper. But I’m never more eager to read the morning reflection than when it is by Michael Pakaluk. How wonderful to have in book form his insights into the presence of unexpected grace and the possibilities of simple holiness even in our modern world.”
—James Stoner, Jr., Eric Voegelin Institute, Louisiana State University