At his Weekly General Audience on Wednesday, February 26, 2014, Pope Francis got to talk about one of his favorite topics: care of the sick and the infirmed, by reference to the Anointment of the Sick. The Pope tackled the ‘taboo’ quality of the misunderstood Sacrament, acknowledging that “there is a bit of this idea […]
The Pew Research Center recently released a report, Celebrating Christmas and the Holidays, Then and Now, that offers a revealing look at the growing secularism of America’s young adults. According to Pew, although nine out of ten Americans celebrate Christmas, barely half (51%) view Christmas as primarily a religious holiday. Nearly a third (32%) celebrate […]
When I was young, it was fashionable to grow a beard and long hair, put on a tie-dyed t-shirt, faded jeans and head off to Europe to “find oneself.” Often I wondered what would happen if those searchers didn’t like the inner-self they found? At a personal level, I had already met my inner self, in […]
I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day. I’m not the most sentimental person around so I have always found the day to be not much more than a trite, commercialized excuse to sell greeting cards. But like most things in life, there are always deeper Gospel connections than what we see on the surface. […]
Last Wednesday morning the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child published its Concluding Observations concerning the Catholic Church’s treatment of children. In this widely-denounced document (see HLI’s statement here), the Committee chastises the Church for supposedly ignoring or refusing the rights of children. It called for the Church to amend Canon Law, […]
As a cradle Catholic, I’ve had the privilege of learning about and praying for the intercession of many saints for all my life. Lose my keys again? Calling on Saint Anthony. Test coming up? St. Joseph of Cupertino to the rescue. Pregnancy issues? Alternate between St. Gerard Magella and St. Raymond Nonatus. Husband unemployed? […]
I read about a young man paralyzed in a freak accident. The story gave a glimpse of his grief and sorrow. It’s been just a year since his accident. The terrible prospect of permanent disability is beginning to sink in and it’s breaking his heart. He told the reporter, “It’s really, really hard.” And so […]
Of course I’m not, really. I’m probably one of the least athletic people I know. But I love the Olympics, in a love-hate kind of way. The hate part isn’t really “hate,” but I do end up feeling like there is a risk of an over-emphasis on one’s body, and that the soul can be […]
Is it better to be Prudent or not? When discussing the infamous educational system of St. John Bosco (Preventive System) one cannot help to see how prudent he was in helping the children of Turin. The Method of St. John Bosco A striking characteristic one encounters upon reading about St. John Bosco and his Preventive […]
Last fall, the Supreme Court agreed to review two religious liberty cases surrounding the Obama Administration’s contraception mandate. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties maintain that the federal requirement is an unlawful infringement upon religious liberty, and this year we’ll find out if the highest court in the land concurs. In support of the cases, […]
Death is always a hardship, and death by any means besides natural causes is a tragedy. So, when the body of actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman was found Sunday, February 2 in the bathroom of his Greenwich Village apartment, it was a tragedy. Hoffman, 46, had died of an apparent drug overdose. A friend found him […]
Imagine yourself standing on a beautiful beach. You’re near the spot where the ocean tide rolls up to meet the sand. Your back is to the water, your face to all the beach activity. It’s a bright, sunny day, the kind that makes you feel glad to be alive. People are soaking in the warm […]
As every mother knows, a newborn takes at least eight hours a day to nurse, burp, rock and comfort, bathe and change. Then a mother must wash loads of clothes which tend to get covered in vomit, and other nasty surprises. The lack of sleep leads to a rather narrow existence where the best days […]
I remember sitting with my father in a boat on the middle of a still prairie lake. It was August of 1969 and I was sixteen years old. A cool mist rose from the surface of the lake that August morning. Fishing was good just after sunrise and so there we sat still half-asleep, casting our […]
The death of Jesus Christ—the liturgy par excellence, the supreme oblation and fulfillment of Israel’s sacrificial system—occurred outside the holy precincts of the temple, thus demolishing the rigid dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. The Christian knows no “temple” but his body, wherein the Spirit dwells individually; and the church, wherein the Spirit dwells […]
As in seasons past, our recent Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s celebrations are now only distant memories. The weather remains quite frigid and winter has not yet let go of its grip. But even if the days remain dark, we know that spring is ever closer and the sun will shine brighter with each coming […]
There are two questions most people avoid. The questions are: “Why am I here?” and “Where am I going?” They are such penetrating questions that vast numbers of people spend their lives going to great lengths to avoid them.Questions call for answers and these two questions pierce to the core of who and what a […]
Man lives in constant delusion. There is a world of difference between one sitting on a hill and looking at a beautiful sunrise and a man so enthralled with that very same sunrise that he forgets himself and becomes absorbed in the scene. In the first instance the man is egocentric; he is in delusion […]
On the Feast of the Holy Family, December 29, 2013, Pope Francis invited all Catholics to pray for families as the Church prepares for an Extraordinary Synod to examine the troubling disconnect between Church teaching and the reality of modern family life. In his Angelus address given to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square, Pope […]
When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This […]
I recently read an article on Huffington Post entitled “Why I Can’t Say ‘Love the Sinner/Hate the Sin’ Anymore.” The author, Micah Murray, is obviously a very caring individual, and I understand where he is coming from. He hates the idea that we would see gays – or anyone – as someone substandard, someone who is “other” […]
“I was never more hated than when I tried to be honest. Or when, even as just now I’ve tried to articulate exactly what I felt to be the truth.” Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man Christmas flows into 2014, and the busy-ness of the worldly life pulls us away from our true center. These times when we are […]
I once asked a priest what my life would have been like if I had not experienced suffering, if I had married a well-off dentist, had 1.25 kids and lived in an efficient, modern house. He put on a phony, pious face, put his hands together in prayer, and said in a high, mocking voice […]
Pondering the Gospel narratives from the Annunciation to the Presentation, it is striking how all of the principals in the story were confused, troubled and even gripped by fear. All of them. And from Heaven came the constant, soothing admonishment: “Do not be afraid.” Beginning with the appearance of the Angel Gabriel to the priest, […]
