Category: Religion

• Against the Current

  A reflective meditation on salmon struggling upstream becomes a deeper exploration of human purpose, spiritual longing, and the search for the Source of our Being. Drawing from nature, personal pilgrimage, and Christ’s parables in Luke 15, Richard Dell’Orfano examines whether human consciousness itself points toward an eternal homecoming.

  RMDell’Orfano

  May 13, 2026

  Mysticism, Religion, Suffering

• No One Wants to Hear This

  A Catholic reflection on the Church’s real crisis: not external threats, but the loss of interior life, silence, and true spiritual transformation.

  RMDell’Orfano

  April 3, 2026

  Mysticism, Religion, Uncategorized

  Catholic Church, Catholic commentary, Catholic renewal, Christian spirituality, Church crisis, contemplation, Contemplative Outreach, ecclesial reform, Faith and Culture, holiness, inner transformation, interior life, media influence, modern culture, monastic spirituality, New Oxford Review, prayer life, silence and prayer, Spiritual Formation, technology and faith, Thomas Keating, Trappist spirituality

• UPDATE: The Samson Option

  Netanyahu is trying to annihalate the Iranian government. If they are in such danger, then there are no limits.

  RMDell’Orfano

  March 21, 2026

  Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

  The Samson Option

• Compensatory Sainthood

  We fund statues, celebrate heroes, and ignore the truth. Why societies create saints—and what it costs when the myth collapses.

  RMDell’Orfano

  March 19, 2026

  Politics, Psychology, Religion

  American history, cancel culture, Cesar Chavez, civil rights movement, cultural icons, ethics and society, groupthink, hero worship, historical revisionism, institutional abuse, labor movement, leadership accountability, Martin Luther King Jr, media narratives, moral hypocrisy, myth making, political commentary, political myths, power and corruption, public monuments, public trust, secular sainthood, social justice, social psychology

• Rhetorical Mercy

  Real compassion is harder because it requires juggling two truths at once—without dropping either.

  RMDell’Orfano

  February 10, 2026

  Politics, Psychology, Religion, Wealth

  civic order, compassion with boundaries, empathy vs sympathy, empathy without absolution, hetorical mercy, immigration debate, moral responsibility, performative compassion, personal boundaries, proximity and ethics, rule of law, social costs

• Curve Chasing—No Guardrails

  In a hyper-sexualized culture racing without guardrails, a growing number of young people are choosing restraint. This essay explores why a “sexless” generation is emerging—not from fear or moralism, but from exhaustion, clarity, and self-preservation.

  RMDell’Orfano

  January 1, 2026

  Companionship, Psychology, Religion

  abstinence movement, attention economy, chastity, cultural exhaustion, digital fatigue, Gen Z culture, intimacy crisis, media saturation, modern sexuality, Monastic Wisdom, recovery from excess, relationships and boundaries, restraint and meaning, sexual overexposure

• The Untamed Beast

  A parable exposing the limits of bookish religion and the necessity of a lived obedience to Scripture.,

  RMDell’Orfano

  December 26, 2025

  Religion

  Alter Christus, Canadian Indian guanlets, Early Jesuit Traiing, Monastic Wisdom, Obedience, Parable, Repentance, Scripture Lived, Spiritual Formation, St Francis of Assist\, The Narrow Way

• Why Families Can’t Afford Christmas

  Catholic reflection on why families can’t afford Christmas anymore—linking inflation, education costs, debt, and the forgotten humility of the manger.

  RMDell’Orfano

  December 25, 2025

  Politics, Religion

  emotionally resonant, searchable

• That Part of Us Waiting to Be Born

  A thoughtful reflection on the Immaculate Conception reinterpreted as a universal symbol of inner renewal, showing how anyone — believer or not — can discover the unbroken self within and allow new life to sprout beyond inherited fear and shame.

  RMDell’Orfano

  December 8, 2025

  Mysticism, Psychology, Religion

  Catholic themes, contemplative spirituality, human potential, Immaculate Conception, inner renewal, Mary, modern faith, overcoming shame, personal growth, spiritual psychology, spiritual reflection, transformation, Tree of Life, universal symbolism

• The King Who Built Heaven

  I realized that King Ludwig II of Bavaria lived a similar antagonistic pattern Christ faced

  RMDell’Orfano

  December 5, 2025

  Art, Religion

  beauty and wonder, castles and cathedrals, Christian symbolism, Cinderella Castle, Disney inspiration, European cathedrals, fairy-tale architecture, faith and imagination, Ludwig II, Neuschwanstein Castle, sacred architecture, spiritual heritage, visionary builders, Walt Disney