For The Death Haunted Art of Friendship (Part I), go here. How often in Scripture we find violence mingled with love, like water mingled with wine: in the Song of Songs, the watchmen beating the lover as she searches the city for her beloved; in Genesis, Abram’s knife poised over Isaac’s breast. Yet it is [...]
“Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior” (Isaiah 45:15). Man is haughty and prideful, and in his conceit he constructs deities to suit his temperament: deities regal and terrible, blazing with fierce glory and swollen with righteous strength. It is not therefore surprising that so many fail to [...]
The Holy Gospel According to John is the most “mystical” of all the holy scriptures. In fact, this book is so “deep” and filled with Mystery that the Church only reads it during the Paschal season (there are no catechumens left, all having been baptized on Holy Saturday), as it should not be shared with [...]
Style, Sex, & Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter, edited buy Hallie Lord, is full of spiritual truths and spunk! The ten women who each tackle a different current issue seem to hit most of the hot topics usually found splashed across the covers of women’s tabloids, but from a Catholic [...]
In the novel Love Story, Oliver and Jenny want to marry. But their families don’t want them to marry. They are from “opposite sides of the tracks.” Oliver is rich. Jenny is poor. Both are well educated (he from Harvard; she from Radcliff) but aren’t interested in social status. They only want to start a [...]
Growing up with a chronically ill mother, I found it very difficult to embrace Marian devotions as an adult. A true and present (and perfect!) mother did not seem real to me. Just as a faithful father reflects the love of God the Father to his children, a faithful mother reflects the love of the [...]
Some people seem to think that the Catholic Church is just another multi-national corporation, Catholicism, Inc., with the Pope as CEO. Obviously, this view is a bit skewed, but is not totally off-base. The Church is in fact an international organization. That’s actually one of the meanings of the word “Catholic”– this church is no [...]
Did Jesus really sin? Apparently nearly 60% of all practicing Catholic within the Diocese of Camden, NJ believe so. This was the findings of a religious survey commissioned by the Diocese of Camden, with the intent and purpose of finding out what people know and understand about their Catholic faith. These results should put all [...]
“He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem, and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord. He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists, but they tried to kill him.” (Acts 9:29, NAB) When St. Paul began traveling throughout the Roman Empire, truly going into the culture of death in order to proclaim [...]
No one was more zealous than Saul. He burned with passion to promote the Law of Moses and the traditions of his ancestors. From Turkey to Palestine to Syria he had relentlessly pursued his quest for the glory of God. But all his hard work did more harm than good. Oh, his efforts bore fruit [...]
“Qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur.” —The words of the consecration of the wine in the Mass, meaning literally “(my blood) which is poured out for you and for many” “But when He added pro multis He wanted that there be understood the rest of those chosen (electos) from the Jews or from the [...]
The High Priest of Israel entered into the holiest recesses of the Temple while wearing a breastplate (Hebrew ”choshen”) adorned with precious stones and jewels, along with the mysterious Urim and Thummim. The scriptures record: “And you shall make an oracle of judgments [...]And you shall interweave in it a four-rowed, stone-holding web. A row of stones shall [...]
Belief in God increases with age. That is the finding of a longitudinal study by researchers at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. The Center conducted three surveys on religious faith, questioning people of different age groups in 30 different countries. The surveys—conducted in 1991, 1998, and again in 2008—explored the range of [...]
I’m doing something I’ve never done before. I’ve never written a movie review for a movie I have not yet seen or a book review for book I have not yet read. But I am so excited by the “buzz” about an upcoming movie that I thought I’d let you in on some of it. [...]
The glorious story of Eric Liddell will soon grace a London stage just as issues of conscience make headlines with Christians defending religious freedom from coercion. Chariots of Fire, the Oscar-winning film of Olympic runner Eric Liddell’s refusal to race on the Sabbath, is being adapted into a play to usher in the 2010 Olympics [...]
It’s not politically incorrect to believe in God. Just so long as you acknowledge that all are God’s children, and that there are many, equally honorable paths to the Most High. After all, that’s only fair. How conceited it would be to claim that your way is the only way. There is nothing really new [...]
When Charles W. “Chuck” Colson died last week, the headlines screamed about the death of President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man,” who tumbled from his perch as White House chief counsel after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in 1974. Some squeezed in fleeting references to the way Colson spent the second half of his life, [...]
I am greatly saddened by the death of Chuck Colson this past weekend. I have always been grateful to Chuck for his kindness toward me. I was a part-time research fellow and a full-time mother when he began talking about my first book, “Love and Economics.” There was absolutely nothing for him to gain by [...]
I am a cradle Catholic, but my family was not very good about going to confession regularly. It is possible that because my parish priest growing up was beyond liberal, my parents wanted me nowhere near him. Or maybe my liberal parish didn’t offer confession regularly. (The attached school made us say, “In the name [...]
When it was evening, his disciples went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, [...]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Acts 4:8-12; Psalm 118:1,8-9,21-23,26,29; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18) Knowing and Experiencing the Love of Our Heavenly Father “We are God’s children.” (1 John 3:2) What a radical statement! How awesome it is that we mere mortals are children of the eternal, almighty God! What could be [...]
In the heyday of the Roman Empire, the corruption of the times caused a wave of dissatisfaction to ripple across the civilized world. Many were disgusted with the gross sensuality of society and yearned for a higher, spiritual kind of existence. They sought a redeemer who would come down from heaven and enlighten those who [...]
As I pulled out of the high school parking lot yesterday after dropping off my daughter, I noticed a long line of cars waiting to turn in. Blinking turn signals flickered in the early morning light and I couldn’t help but notice how the traffic had exploded since the time I had arrived. My daughter [...]
Amidst all the tales of chivalry from the Titanic disaster there is one that’s not often told. It is that of Fr. Thomas Byles, the Catholic priest who gave up two spots on a lifeboat in favor of offering spiritual aid to the other victims as they all went down with the “unsinkable” vessel. A [...]
