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 […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 49:3,5-6; Psalm 40:2,4,7-10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34) Seeing Jesus More Clearly, a Work of the Holy Spirit I did not know him. (John 1:33) When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin […]
A frequent refrain to those who love traditional liturgical piety is that our piety, while nice and beautiful, is no longer culturally relevant. They tell us it is near impossible to teach today’s generation with these bygone customs. One of the customs they believe this applies to most is the issue of saying Mass ad […]
Life is not easy for Christians in Egypt, and the strain is taking its toll. Beyond the reports of churches burned and homes attacked, there is also a more subtle hardship affecting ordinary families. While not universal, mistreatment and discrimination are unfortunately all too common. “Every day we leave our house, not knowing what will […]
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 […]
At first glance, the scene makes little sense. John’s strident call to repentance provokes an overwhelming response. People of all shapes and sizes flock to him in the wilderness. They are baptized in the Jordan as a sign of repentance and cleansing. Suddenly, out of the crowd steps John’s cousin, Jesus. Wait a minute. What’s […]
Have you heard the argument against the existence of God based on the size of the universe? You might find it strange that an argument against God would be constructed based on the enormity of space — something that elicits awe and wonder. But it is, and it goes like this: You see how big the […]
The Baptism of the Lord Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7; Psalm 29:1-4,9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17) View NAB Reading at USCCB.org At Jesus’ Baptism, The Sinless One is One With Us esus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan. (Matthew 3:13) It’s a big day! After thirty hidden years […]
*Editor Note: Starting this month we will be introducing a new series at Catholic Lane. Known as The Bad Evangelist Club, we will be providing an examination of conscience so to speak for Catholic efforts at Evangelization and Apologetics. We will do so by reflecting on the bad arguments being made (often by the writers […]
According to a local Catholic leader, Nigeria’s well-being holds the key to the fate of the African continent: “If Nigeria falls to Islamic extremists, all of Africa will be at risk.” Bishop Hyacinth Egbebo is the administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Bomadi, in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, in the heart of the country’s oil-rich but […]
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” […]
Up until now, all has been quite humble. A donkey-ride to a dusty town south of Jerusalem. Hotel rooms all booked up. Giving birth in a stable and laying the baby in an animal’s feed trough instead of a cozy cradle. Into this scene of obscure poverty suddenly bursts an exotic entourage from a far-off […]
Resolve to read “By What Authority?” in 2014.
“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 […]
Responding to an annual fundamentalist canard.
One-year reading plans for Vatican II, New Testament, and Catechism.
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
