A very wise priest is fond of starting all his discussions on the sacraments with the following fundamental truth. When teaching on the sacraments, we must remember that nobody encounters God without being fundamentally changed. In the Old Testament the names of individuals were changed. Moses’ face became as bright as the sun, and Elijah […]
Recently while perusing Marian books at a Catholic gift store, I discovered many of the topics pertained to Marian apparitions, some approved and others not. Over dinner, I mentioned that I enjoyed the study of Mary, known as Mariology, and the other person shared with me that he had visited Lourdes. After giving a talk on the rosary, someone from the congregation asked, “What do you think […]
When we consider the Sacrament of Baptism, two things become readily apparent. The first is how important baptism is in the Scriptures. Out of all the sacraments, none are foretold more than the sacrament of Baptism. (See Gen 1:2, Ez 36:25, 2 Kings 5:10-15, Is 1:16 to name but a few examples.) The other is […]
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus, criticized the media for it’s continued misrepresenting of Vatican II. In response, NET (New Evangelization Television) debuted a 10-part weekly series called Vatican II: Inside the Vatican Council, on Thursday, February 21 at 8:30 PM ET. CNA/EWTN reported that “Pope Benedict XVI said that many of the misinterpretations of the Second […]
We understand the sacraments as “visible signs of an invisible reality.” While this is true, it really doesn’t tell us much about the sacraments. A visible sign of what? What is the reality? The questions (and answers!) contemporary Catholicism provides are clearly not satisfying.
“[A]nd on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:18. When we hear these words, we often think of the Church as a fortress whose foundation is sunk into bedrock. We imagine enormous waves of evil buffeting the walls, but always falling back, dissipated […]
I am of the opinion that we cannot develop a proper evangelization and theology centered around the sacraments because of the way we currently practice our faith. Any proper evangelization begins at home, and we need to take a better look at some realities of our faith.
True as they all are, their answers are incomplete. They are means, not the end. Why does God wish to “marry us?” What is the purpose of God providing peace? As always, the answer may be found within the Scriptures
I think we Catholics approach the sacraments from a flawed analysis. We view them as mere “booster shots” for the already holy. So long as we are without mortal sin, we go to the sacraments, get our booster shot of infused grace, and we become holier. While there is certainly this aspect to the sacraments, there needs to be a lot more to the sacraments if we are taking the Biblical, historical, and magisterial evidence seriously.
The Faith may be ever-ancient, ever new, but calls for it to be amended or abridged are nothing new. Always there are clarion calls that the Church is dying out, and that she must adapt her teachings or face a slow death. A variety of heresies and challengers rise up in every age demanding to […]
A peculiar thing happened on the way to the present day from Pentecost: the Church suddenly stopped calling the Jews to conversion. Sure, if we are being honest, we must admit that the Church is now reticent to explicitly call anyone who dwells beyond the fold into the one true religion, but in the decades […]
The Year of Faith is in full swing, a year during which the Holy Father is encouraging the faithful to undertake an exploration of the Council documents with renewed vigor. Bravo! The simple fact that far too few among us have actually taken the time to read the conciliar texts is one of the primary […]
In the words of Billy Joel’s 1979 hit ballad, “Honesty,” “Honesty is such a lonely word; everyone is so untrue.” How much more true do those words ring today, some three decades later? To wit, I’d like to touch on three examples of rank dishonesty: one spiritual, one intellectual, and one liturgical. Spiritual Dishonesty In […]
“All men by nature desire to know.” So Aristotle begins his Metaphysics. We desire to know what is and we desire to know it truly and this desire is “by nature” — as every parent of a miniature metaphysician can testify, for “what?” and “why?” are the words his child’s mind lives by from morning to […]
The little boy is playing happily on the kitchen floor. Mommy is busy above, at the counter, far over his head. Things are being retrieved from the cupboards and fridge, but the little boy pays scant attention for he has lately become fascinated with tracing the design on the vinyl floor with his toy car. […]
A particular “hot-button” issue facing contemporary American culture concerns homosexuality and the Catholic Church. The general position of the Catholic Church on homosexuality is fairly well-known: homosexual acts are a sin and the inclination to these acts is intrinsically disordered. Despite the above formulation, many people do not understand why the Church has taken the […]
In the days following last week’s U.S. presidential election, a staggering amount of analysis has focused on Republican messaging, demographics and core constituencies — so much so that the fundamental point has been missed entirely. If the Second Coming of Obama is evidence of anything, it is the godlessness of our nation, the majority of […]
Almost two thousand years ago, the Roman historian Livy assessed the situation in Rome by noting, “We can bear neither our vices nor the remedies.” This comment was highlighted recently on the blog of a well-known priest, who saw similarities between the decline of Rome and the current state of affairs in the United States. […]
Defenders of homosexuality and proponents of so-called gay marriage often accuse Christians of hypocrisy by juxtaposing our commitment to “traditional morality,” as it is called today, with the dominical command to love one’s neighbor. Such an accusation, aired in a very public forum, was recently cause for considerable discussion at my place of work. I was surprised, […]
In the months leading up to the presidential election, the American bishops’ conference clearly made a strong, tactical move. It is counterproductive in the present climate, they posited, to dwell on the questions concerning the liceity of contraceptive use, but far more productive to focus our energy on the crucial right to religious liberty for […]
This is the fourth of six articles relating the writer’s journey into the bosom of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Having succumbed to spiritual desolation following the rejection of his Adventist heritage, the young seeker investigates various Christian traditions, hoping to discover the Truth. Part I may be found here; Part II here; Part III ; […]
This week Joel Osteen’s message, “Trust God’s Timing,” was focused on the attitude that we display while we are waiting for God to answer a prayer. Joel used the examples of someone praying for healing, praying to find a spouse, praying for the return of a wayward child, or praying for promotion at work. Joel said […]
Following the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, reported that it was a spontaneous act carried out by a Muslim mob moved to anger by an anti-Islamic movie trailer. It now seems rather clear that the video is being exploited by the […]
Listen to Archbishop Rino Fisichella and at first you might suppose that the new evangelization was a pretty simple affair. Declaring the “path” of evangelization to be clear in Scripture and tradition, he puts it like this: “We are called to renew the proclamation of Jesus Christ, of the mystery of his death and resurrection, […]
