In the past few weeks, I have seen both October Baby and the The Hunger Games. Though I didn’t expect it, these two movies have much more in common than I thought. October Baby was a powerful depiction of what kind of effects abortion has on every person it touches. It was a heart-wrenching film […]
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (Rom. 12:2) Advances in neurobiology may be on the verge of explaining what St. Paul knew by inspiration – the interaction of the mind and the flesh. (Rom.7: 23-25). While we may think of the flesh of the part of us below the neck, the brain is […]
Baby seals, puppies and horses all seem to have a universal ability to tug at people’s heartstrings. It’s just something about how we’re made, and Steven Spielberg’s War Horse doesn’t disappoint in that department. This film takes you on an emotional ride from the opening scene, the birth of a horse in rural England, right […]
Eric Holder is a busy man. When President Obama’s chief law enforcement officer isn’t tied up selling guns to Mexican drug cartels, refusing to prosecute self-serving cases of voter intimidation or ignoring “wanted dead or alive” bounties placed by black militants on the heads of private citizens, he’s busy conspiring with pro-abortion extremists to bring […]
“People…people who need people…” Barbara Streisand sang in her sixties’ movie Funny Girl. “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world!” Streisand’s singing was over-the-top; music speaks to the soul, and there is so much truth in the song. We need to recognize that we need people. At the same time, though, […]
If you ask Jack Hannahan what he’s thankful for, be prepared to listen for a while. Hannahan, 32, has plenty to appreciate, starting with the realization of his dream of playing in the major leagues. In 2001, he was named Big Ten Player of the Year at the University of Minnesota and was drafted in […]
This Good Friday, I was struck by the beginning of the Divine Mercy Novena, in which Jesus asks us to bring Him all sinners. I found this message especially appropriate for Good Friday, because it drives home the truth that Jesus died for everyone. So often lately, we seem to have forgotten that Jesus died […]
Miss Kim, For You Miss Kim, Miss Kim my hardy Lilac bush, Fragrant blossoms perfume not my garden this spring. A Southern summer singed your leaves, scorched your roots While acrid smells distracted my senses. Your fragile petals, confetti-like Fluttered to the earth, Butterflies your only lingering audience. Your nectar they miss, this season. The […]
Notre Dame is still struggling with its mission as Our Lady’s university. On August 15, 1990, Pope John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae (English: From the Heart of the Church). The document marked the first step in the systematic effort to renew and reform Catholic higher education around the world. One […]
I am always here – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year – waiting for you. But generally I am alone, abandoned and ignored. So when I looked out from behind the closed doors this morning, I was overjoyed to see you-so many of you. While there were many […]
If you are searching for the authoritative Baedeker Guide to the End of the West, search no longer. The book by Patrick J. Buchanan, Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? makes a devastating case for the end of what we know as the West. Pat Buchanan is the unacknowledged godfather of the […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 118:2-4,13-15,22-24; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31) Opening Ourselves to Receiving God’s Divine Mercy This is the one who came through water and blood. (1 John 5:6) “Throughout the world the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation […]
Dawn in Gentle Breathing How lovely are the rooftops of the city While turning sleepers rest beneath the sky, Dreams that rise to scattered night clouds journey, Fragments of the grasped eternal fly Endless trains and ships of sail and motor, Pilots of the wings of morning steer, Those on foot contend with heavy weather, […]
I try so hard to have faith, but I have never figured out the best way to take kids to Mass. I mean, on the one hand, there’s the Real Presence, and taking your children to see the Miracle that redeems mankind is unquestionably of utmost importance. But on the other hand, there’s the mental […]
As we approach Easter Sunday and the beginning of the Easter Season let us take time to reflect on the extraordinary and undeserved gift we have received through Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection — our sins have been forgiven and we are now sharers of eternal life with Christ. The second reading from the Easter […]
“Social issues.” It’s a squishy, equivocal term suited to a mentality ill at ease with the hard-edged implications of “moral issues” and “morality.” What implications? That there are definite moral truths that show some things to be always and everywhere wrong and deserving of condemnation. Not what the “social issues” mindset cares to hear. There’s […]
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21) There are many, many lessons to be learned in the example Christ left for us in his suffering. One of those, I believe, is a lesson in how […]
Today, we take time now to look back at the blessings God has provided during the 40 Days for Life campaign that just ended. But just as importantly, we also look to the future. For this campaign, we have received reports of 772 babies spared from abortion — that we know of! Many of the local campaigns […]
“We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to […]
Unforgettable This the day so long foretold The day of little light The day of justice lacking The day of man’s ingratitude The day of cowardice and fear This the day of torture and sorrow The day of darkness and death The day of horror and pain The day of weeping women The day of […]
In today’s secular culture, there are some common misconceptions (pun intended) regarding the Church’s teachings on sex and marriage. I believe the following attitudes (in bold) illustrate that many modern Catholics, young and old alike, are poorly catechized, especially in this important area. The Church is preoccupied with sex. Actually, it is the world which […]
America anxiously awaits the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare. At the core of the decision is a simple question: Is the “individual mandate” in Obamacare constitutional? And thus, is Obamacare constitutional? Several times during the debate and deliberation, my mind harkened back to the words of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Remarking on […]
On Holy Thursday, the night before he died, the Lord Jesus made some startling changes in the ritual of the Passover meal. Instead of being content with the traditional Jewish table blessing over the bread, Jesus proclaimed “take and eat for this is my body.” Over the third cup of wine, known as the cup […]
A city like no other, maybe even more so this time of year. What do you call a city with a jail named Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven)? For the last 3,000 years, you call it Rome. Forty years had passed since I had last visited Rome, broke and hitchhiking through Europe the summer after […]
