It is fitting to celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We rejoice to see the holy city roll out the red carpet and hail Jesus as the promised Messiah. The problem is, however, that the only crown they gave their king was a crown of thorns. This week the Church recalls a […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 1:1-11 2nd Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23 Responsorial: Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9 Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus, Seated at the Right Hand of the Father, is Worthy of Our Praise . . far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named […]
Our grandchild was over for the night and she brought her dolls with her. We had no daughter so It was interesting for me to watch from a distance to see how she was caught up in the moment, a fantasy that was transformed into a reality that quickly absorbed all her senses. Before discounting […]
The Trump administration announced additional restrictions on abortion funding in foreign aid this week, in effect neutralizing U.S. complicity in the proliferation of global abortion. The State Department announced that effective May 15th, $8.8 billion in global health assistance would fall under Mexico City Policy guidelines, prohibiting most foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) that perform or […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 2nd Reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18 Responsorial: Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20 Gospel: John 14:15-21 Resisting Satan’s Temptations and Harassments There was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:8) Today’s first reading tells us three things: evil exists (Acts 8:7); we have […]
Conservative human rights groups are increasingly alarmed about a new funding proposal to combat human trafficking around the world. They are concerned also about the groups that seem to have gotten the ear of the White House, specifically Ivanka Trump, who appears to be quarterbacking the White House position. The immediate issue is the End […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 6:1-7 2nd Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-9 Responsorial: Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19 Gospel: John 14:1-12 Trusting in the Lord’s Great Love during Difficult Times Do not let your hearts be troubled. (John 14:1) There is no way anyone in the upper room was […]
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). Redemptive suffering. It is that mysterious but incredible reality that the suffering God allows into our lives, when accepted and lived with […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 2:14, 36-41 2nd Reading: 1 Peter 2:20-25 Responsorial: Psalm 23:1-6 Gospel: John 10:1-10 What It Means to be “Cut to the Heart” by the Gospel Message They were cut to the heart. (Acts 2:37) Here it was, Peter’s very first sermon, and […]
It was a beautiful sunny day for a man to be at a playground with his preschool grandchildren. That’s exactly where I was. I took my grandson and grand-daughter to a playground at a nearby elementary school; one child sat on my lap while the other stood on the back of my electric wheelchair as […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 2:1-14, 22-33 2nd Reading: 1:17-21 Responsorial: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11 Gospel: Luke 24:13-35 Knowing Jesus More Deeply through Reading and Reflecting on Scriptures Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. (Luke 24:31) Don’t you wish you could have been there when […]
In the sermon The Praise of Men,1 after indicating that ridicule is a powerful weapon used by the devil, Blessed John Henry Newman describes a case in which it is the cause of much pain: when a person who had shunned religion turns by God’s grace back to the practice of religion and meets the […]
Recent news articles about two rivers that have been granted the same legal rights as human beings give us pause to stop and think. Or at least, I hope they do! These rivers in New Zealand and India are viewed as “sacred” bodies of water. In India the decision was based on the idea that […]
Easter is the momentous culmination of our Christian faith. As the “Feast of feasts” and the “Solemnity of solemnities,” the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection could not be contained to just one day in the liturgical calendar. So, we celebrate the Easter Octave – the eight-day festal period from Easter to the Feast of Divine Mercy. […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 2:42-47 2nd Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9 Responsorial: Psalm 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24 Gospel: John 20: 19-31 Rejoicing in God’s Divine Mercy and Great Love Rejoice. (1 Peter 1:8) Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. It’s a special day for us to reflect on […]
For such a time as this, we have all we need. God has actually increased our spiritual riches during the last century through the messages of Fatima and the Divine Mercy devotion. Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, the director of the Association of Marian Helpers, and Tony Mullen, founder of MyConsecration.org, will explain how we can tap […]
At the homily during a recent Sunday Mass, in a parish which I attended some years ago, the priest was in high dudgeon, almost hysterical about the actions of the current president in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Quoting the Protestant minister Dietrich Bonheoffer and Jesuit priest Alfred Delp, both murdered by the Nazis […]
The serpent’s bite was a deadly one. The venom had worked its way deep into the heart of the entire human race, doing its gruesome work. The anti-venom was unavailable until He appeared. One drop was all that was needed, so potent was this antidote. Yet it was not like Him to be stingy. He […]
When I was a kid my Mom used to embroider old sayings and decorate them with stitched designs and images. When they were finished she’d frame them and hang them on the walls, so that walking through our house was a little tour through the patrimony of wisdom from the ages, all arrayed in a […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43 2nd Reading: Colossians 3:1-4 Responsorial: Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 Gospel: John 20:1-9 He is Risen!! I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. (Psalm 118:17) Jesus, you are the risen Lord, and all creation sings […]
The movie, The Promise about the Armenian genocide, was viewed at the Vatican’s 50-seat screening room on April 4 with director Terry George, producer Eric Esrailian and some of the talent. The Pope was not able to attend however senior Vatican officials were in attendance at the screening. According to Variety: “When there was awareness [within the Vatican] […]
David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, investigative journalists with the Center for Medical Progress, are once again under attack by the justice system, this time in California. As we know, Daleiden and Merritt had previously faced multiple charges, including in the state of Texas where charges were eventually dropped. In addition, the National Abortion Federation filed […]
The left expects everyone to accept its ideological authority.
