From today’s gospel: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” An interesting choice of words from the Angel Gabriel, “Favor with God”. This has to be where Mary’s fullness of grace comes in because if I was told I had favor with God and then my life went on the […]
Some people try to get rich quick by aiming for a $400 million jackpot, and others try to lose weight quick through fad diets. These methods very rarely work even among worldly goals; why would we expect them to work any better in our spiritual lives, where perseverance bears the reward? There is no get […]
Lent’s a time of introspection. We read Exodus, and watch the Israelites grumbling, even after the amazing things God had done for them (Ex 17:3-7). In them, we recognize ourselves. For many of us, then, Lent is time for the spiritual equivalent of New Year’s resolutions. We set aside work on ourselves for forty days […]
Today’s Gospel from Luke is one many know and love; the parable of the prodigal son. This is a great reading to meditate and reflect on during Lent. I’m not going to ask you if you’ve ever been the prodigal son or daughter. I’m going to ask you this: How many times have you been […]
In spite of an uncertain future, Christians in Syria do not want to leave. This was the message of a local Catholic leader, who said, “We Christians are living in fear, the future is uncertain, but we want to stay in our homeland.” The statement came from the Melkite Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Homs, Hama and […]
Pope Francis reflected on the meaning of fatherhood during his weekly General Audience held on the Feast of St. Joseph—the Foster Father of the Lord. The Pope asked all the ‘daddies’ in the crowd estimated at 60,000 to raise their hands and then he shared his special wish for fathers and their children: “Be for […]
If you’ve ever been betrayed by a best friend or by someone you loved deeply, remember that Jesus was, too. Judas was a part of Jesus’ inner circle. Jesus called him, chose him, spent every day in his company as they traveled together preaching the good news. At the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the […]
Thursday MARCH 20, 2014 Gospel LK 16:19-31 As an Eastern Catholic, we are taught early on to fight death at all costs. Contrary to popular belief, death is not natural and is actually a result of sin. As a result of sin every man and woman, whether a pious believer or an atheist, will one day taste death. In this […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42) Lent, A Time to Sharpen Our Spiritual Focus If you knew the gift of God … (John 4:10) It is a constant challenge to see spiritual reality in the midst of our everyday lives. One of the […]
A reflection on today’s Sacred Scripture: “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Matthew 1:24). When I discovered that today’s Gospel Reading was about Joseph and his “yes” to becoming the foster father of Jesus, I began to hunt for my grade school St. Joseph Missal. What a treasure! Happy memories […]
“By faith man completely submits his intellect and his will to God” (Dei Verbum, 5). Our Screwtape Tendency You may be wondering how the Screwtape Letters can possibly help us in becoming better disciples. If we take the time to carefully dissect what Screwtape’s intent is with the “Patient”, we see the very thing Screwtape is […]
Jesus warned to not be like the scribes and Pharisees, “For they preach but they do not practice,” another way of looking at that, “practice what you preach.” Likewise, many of us can think of at least one example in our lives, either now or in the past, when this could be said about us. […]
Elizabeth Ficocelli, raised as a non-practicing Lutheran, did not become Catholic until she was preparing to marry her Catholic boyfriend, but even as a child, she felt that God was leading her to a special mission. To fulfill that mission, Ficocelli states that “God had in store for me amazingly heavenly helpmates who would be […]
Before reading this reflection, please meditate on today’s readings. Because it is preparation for the Christian life, the Old Testament is characterized by at least these two ideas: We should do things for the glory of God; therefore, we should hold fast against sin. As then, as now, there are no excuses for sin, and […]
Saint Paul the Apostle was born in the ancient city of Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia (present-day Turkey) in the year of Our Lord 8, 12-14 years after the birth of Jesus Christ. [1] The city was situated thirty miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea and nestled beneath the shadows of the Tarsus […]
Imagine: you are ten years past customary retirement age. It’s time finally to kick back and relax. You live in a great city where everything is at your fingertips – shopping opportunities, cultural events, all your relatives and lifelong friends. Suddenly God appears and tells you to pack up, uproot your life, and march into […]
”He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). While driving home, I was stopped at a red light behind a brand new pickup truck that was flaunting a hateful, anti-Christian bumper sticker. I was stunned by the wicked display […]
At his first General Audience of 2014, Pope Francis gave the faithful in attendance a homework assignment. “Who among you knows the date of your Baptism, raise your hands,” asked the Pontiff. Then came the project: “Today, at home, go look, ask about the date of your Baptism and that way you will keep in […]
Our flight had taken off from Phoenix and we were happily heading west to Los Angeles. The animated chatter of the Barbie dolls heading for Cabo for Spring break floated throughout the plane. Halfway into the flight, after receiving my beverage, everything changed. Suddenly the plane was heading back to Phoenix and one engine was […]
The readings for today stress God’s powerful gift of forgiveness and his demand that we share this forgiveness with others. Even the wicked can be saved, the reading from Ezekiel reminds us, because “if the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, … he shall surely live, he shall not die.” And […]
The air was cold, the moon full, the wind biting as I stood in the backyard waiting for the dogs to do their nightly business. First the smaller, brown one; she likes to sniff and explore. Then the taller, younger one — the energetic Australian shepherd who likes to run quickly to the end of […]
“Ask and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7). If you’ve ever experienced the power of a novena, you can truly understand these words of Jesus told by St. Matthew in today’s Gospel. Novenas are often discovered out of despair, when your own […]
Ever “evolving”, “progressing” — or so he believes — the modern intellectual mentality slithers out of the sea of mystery, clambering from arrogant skepticism to jaded cynicism, until exhausted of wit and verve, it reaches the hard shore of “reason”. And there on the flat landscape it flutters, just out of reach of the lapping […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Genesis 12:1-4; Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20,22; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9) The Call to Holiness, God’s Design for Our Lives He saved us and called us to a holy life. (2 Timothy 1:9) St. Paul tells us that we have been called to a holy life. But if […]
