Every year right after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. There is an important reason for this. It’s easy to think the “incarnation” means God took on a human body, that he appeared in human flesh. But there is much more to it than that. In Jesus, God unites himself to an […]
The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus—the school of the Gospel (CCC No. 533). My parents married in 1969. The day before the wedding my father got cold feet. In the hotel bar he sat drinking beer with the lawyer Tom Wall who counseled my father […]
Feast of the Holy Family Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Sirach 3:2-6,12-14; Psalm 128:1-5; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15,19-23) View NAB Reading at USCCB.org What it Means to “Put on Love” Put on then, as God’s chosen ones … love. (Colossians 3:12, 14) You are about to head out the door for a family […]
Until relatively recently, atheism just seemed to me like a phase for confused college students—usually nothing to be taken seriously, only something to be outgrown. However, atheism has become more pernicious in recent years. Aside from those who are going through a phase of “amateur atheism” occasioned by trendiness, myopic biology professors, or tough situations […]
In the days of Caesar Augustus, an era of peace was established in the Mediterranean world after centuries of strife. But this peace was forged by the proud ambition of emperors and the edge of their armies’ swords. Upon this stage appears a baby acclaimed as king by eastern dignitaries. Neither Caesar nor Herod will […]
The seven Catholic Epistles written by Saints James, Peter, John, and Jude form a small but integral portion of the New Testament. These letters have always interested me, ever since I learned about the epistolary genre of Scripture when I was a boy at Catholic school. I wonder how much attention these writings receive, written […]
In the drama of the incarnation, Jesus is, of course, the star. That’s the way it is at every birth. All eyes are on the baby. The co-star, though, is definitely mom. Without her love and labor, the event could not have happened. In this case, without mom’s faith it couldn’t have happened either. According […]
From time to time in various debates about the liturgy, the principle of lex orandi lex credendi surfaces. While the Latin might be a little off putting, the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the concept as follows: When the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles – whence the ancient […]
Fourth Sunday of Advent Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24:1-6; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24) View NAB Reading at USCCB.org Sharing With Others the New Life We Have in Christ She was found with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18) For the first two months of a woman’s pregnancy, […]
In the Old Testament, the Azazel goat, translated as scapegoat, was one of two goats chosen for a ceremony on The Day of Atonement. The first goat was sacrifice but a priest would lay hands on the second goat and symbolically transfer all the sin and guilt of the community on to this animal. The […]
The narrative that has been played out since the election of Jorge Bergoglio is one of a Pope ready to overturn all the doctrines of the Church , ordain women priests, change the teaching on marriage and homosexuality, and generally turn the Catholic Church into a minor caucus within the Democratic Party. This narrative was […]
Saint James the Just, one of Christianity’s early leaders, counsels readers across the ages to be patient but productive while waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises. The canonical epistle composed by James (or by his community of disciples) urges his audience—“The Twelve Tribes of the Dispersion”—to be patient and to continue to live holy […]
Third Sunday of Advent Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 35:1-6,10; Psalm 146:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11) View NAB Reading at USCCB.org Allowing the Eucharist to Transform Us They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. (Isaiah 35:2) Thinking about the Eucharist always brings certain Scripture passages […]
Catholics tend to have a love/hate relationship with the concept of a homily. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis laments how everyone suffers when it comes to the homily. The priest suffers because he has to give it, and the laity suffers having to listen. This can be made worse by the fact that preachers can have […]
The season of Advent is about hope. That is the message to be taken from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans. His message of hope in Christ speaks to Christians throughout the millennia as it did to the Church at Rome c. AD 57. Back then the Roman Christians experienced persecution at the […]
Second Sunday of Advent Meditation and Questions for Reflection/Group Discussion (Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-2,7-8, 12-13,17; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12) Growing in Godly Patience and Love Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you. (Romans 15:7) Jesus sure has a lot of patience, doesn’t he? Day in and day out, he puts up with our erratic […]
After they rejected the hierarchical Catholic Church, one of the early tasks of the protestant reformulators was to redefine what Church is; more precisely, to define the visible nature of the New Covenant community of God’s chosen people. It being clear to them through sacred Scripture that Christ Jesus actually did established a Church; they […]
In my last article, I discussed the importance of evangelizing in ways that speak to the needs of the human heart. This is especially important, because the culture at large is too often allowed to control the conversation by insisting that the message of Christianity, Catholicism in particular, is one that is ultimately at odds […]
Recently, there was some discussion on the topic of private revelation in an article recently posted to Catholic Lane. I want at this time to point to some additional information that is not commonly known which will help shed some light on why the spiritual writers of the Catholic tradition as well as the Catechism […]
In the 13 years I have been a practicing Catholic, I have been a traditionalist all but two of them. As a result, I have received communion on the tongue and kneeling for eleven years. I’ve also found that the way we traditionalists receive communion is something that many Catholics outside of the Extraordinary Form […]
The way to save marriage isn’t by new laws, but new hearts.
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman once said: “Faith is illuminative, not operative; it does not force obedience, though it increases responsibility; it heightens guilt, but it does not prevent sin. The will is the source of action.” If the will is the source of action and faith is illuminative because it comes from God, then […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Malachi 3:19-20; Psalm 98:5-9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19) Joining All Creation in Praising the Lord Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth. (Psalm 98:4) Rivers “clapping their hands.” Mountains “shouting for joy.” What extraordinary images these poetic descriptions of nature evoke for us! These […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14; Psalm 17:1,5-6,8,15; 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38) Living in “this age” while awaiting “the Coming Age” He is not God of the dead, but of the living. (Luke 20:38) The Gospels are filled with accounts of how Jesus’ enemies tried to trap him […]
