I’m so excited this week about Devin Rose’s newest book The Protestant’s Dilemma, excited in a way that I honestly didn’t think I could muster again after my passion for his first book If Protestantism is True. Both, in my opinion, are must reads, but the format and fullness of Dilemma are really perfected and so I’d […]
Pro-lifers have told people without fail that “abortion stops a beating heart,” but perhaps no technology made that clearer than the fetal heartbeat stethoscope, allowing mothers and dads to hear the “whoosh-whoosh” of their unborn child’s pumping circulatory system. That is, until maybe now. For years, the fetal heartbeat stethoscope was a specialized piece of […]
Thursday MARCH 20, 2014 Gospel LK 16:19-31 As an Eastern Catholic, we are taught early on to fight death at all costs. Contrary to popular belief, death is not natural and is actually a result of sin. As a result of sin every man and woman, whether a pious believer or an atheist, will one day taste death. In this […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42) Lent, A Time to Sharpen Our Spiritual Focus If you knew the gift of God … (John 4:10) It is a constant challenge to see spiritual reality in the midst of our everyday lives. One of the […]
Lizzie Velásquez is a 24 year old American woman who was born with a very rare disease (shared by only two other people in the United States) that doesn’t allow her to gain weight. She has been bullied most of her life, including being labeled the “World’s Ugliest Woman” in an internet video that received […]
The term “theistic evolution” is used in contrast to the atheistic idea of evolution. It means evolution set in motion by God or under the direction of God, and seems appropriate for a believer who admits some truth to evolutionary science. But I don’t like the phrase because it’s a confusing redundancy. Think about it. If you’re a […]
A reflection on today’s Sacred Scripture: “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Matthew 1:24). When I discovered that today’s Gospel Reading was about Joseph and his “yes” to becoming the foster father of Jesus, I began to hunt for my grade school St. Joseph Missal. What a treasure! Happy memories […]
“By faith man completely submits his intellect and his will to God” (Dei Verbum, 5). Our Screwtape Tendency You may be wondering how the Screwtape Letters can possibly help us in becoming better disciples. If we take the time to carefully dissect what Screwtape’s intent is with the “Patient”, we see the very thing Screwtape is […]
A few weeks ago, I was reading an excerpt about how a man chose to serve as a missionary on a college campus following graduation. He said that he decided to become a missionary because he wanted to something meaningful with his life and not just push papers in an office. As an office worker […]
Jesus warned to not be like the scribes and Pharisees, “For they preach but they do not practice,” another way of looking at that, “practice what you preach.” Likewise, many of us can think of at least one example in our lives, either now or in the past, when this could be said about us. […]
If this was a hijacking, time is critical.
Elizabeth Ficocelli, raised as a non-practicing Lutheran, did not become Catholic until she was preparing to marry her Catholic boyfriend, but even as a child, she felt that God was leading her to a special mission. To fulfill that mission, Ficocelli states that “God had in store for me amazingly heavenly helpmates who would be […]
Fiscally responsible force. I like the sound of that.
The Huffington Post reports that the Food and Drug Administration has been asked to approve creation of “genetically modified children.” The FDA announced a meeting aimed at analyzing the proposed practice of “oocyte modification in assisted reproduction for the prevention of transmission of mitochondrial disease or treatment of infertility.” In other words, a type of […]
Before reading this reflection, please meditate on today’s readings. Because it is preparation for the Christian life, the Old Testament is characterized by at least these two ideas: We should do things for the glory of God; therefore, we should hold fast against sin. As then, as now, there are no excuses for sin, and […]
Are we all agreed that Saving Mr. Banks is the Worst. Movie. Title. Ever? Good. First: Who is Mr. Banks? He’s the father of the little family in Mary Poppins, and the filmmakers must have assumed that we all had massive group recollection on that one. Second: “Banks” rhymes with “Hanks” who plays Walt Disney. […]
Saint Paul the Apostle was born in the ancient city of Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia (present-day Turkey) in the year of Our Lord 8, 12-14 years after the birth of Jesus Christ. [1] The city was situated thirty miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea and nestled beneath the shadows of the Tarsus […]
Imagine: you are ten years past customary retirement age. It’s time finally to kick back and relax. You live in a great city where everything is at your fingertips – shopping opportunities, cultural events, all your relatives and lifelong friends. Suddenly God appears and tells you to pack up, uproot your life, and march into […]
”He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). While driving home, I was stopped at a red light behind a brand new pickup truck that was flaunting a hateful, anti-Christian bumper sticker. I was stunned by the wicked display […]
At his first General Audience of 2014, Pope Francis gave the faithful in attendance a homework assignment. “Who among you knows the date of your Baptism, raise your hands,” asked the Pontiff. Then came the project: “Today, at home, go look, ask about the date of your Baptism and that way you will keep in […]
Our flight had taken off from Phoenix and we were happily heading west to Los Angeles. The animated chatter of the Barbie dolls heading for Cabo for Spring break floated throughout the plane. Halfway into the flight, after receiving my beverage, everything changed. Suddenly the plane was heading back to Phoenix and one engine was […]
Twenty years after the Clintons failed to get countries to declare a right to abortion, Mrs. Clinton told a posh UN crowd that humanity cannot advance without reproductive rights. “You cannot make progress on gender equality or broader human development without safeguarding women’s reproductive health or rights,” she declared. Clinton is adamant that reproductive health […]
It’s an election year again, and unless we’re careful, we can easily be misled by vague assertions about “the dangers of losing our tax-exempt status.” Let me state categorically from the outset: it’s not going to happen, period. In this current series of columns, we are exploring and exploding some of the myths surrounding “tax […]
The readings for today stress God’s powerful gift of forgiveness and his demand that we share this forgiveness with others. Even the wicked can be saved, the reading from Ezekiel reminds us, because “if the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, … he shall surely live, he shall not die.” And […]
