The Whole Christ
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”[1] The Catholic Church has often been criticized for promoting a religion of dos and don’ts, a religion...
Category: Reflection
“My grace is sufficient for you”
I get the sense from many Catholic preachers and pastors that they don’t understand human weakness. More than that, too often I have heard Catholic preachers downplay, or deny, the reality of mental illness, treating addiction as if it’s a...
The Loving Gaze of Evangelization
On January 11th, Pope Francis began a new cycle of Wednesday Audiences by returning to one of his favorite themes: the difference between proselytism and evangelization. After commenting on the importance of evangelization in the Christian life, and reflecting on...
The Woman at the Well, the First Christian Preacher
On January 10, 2021, the Holy Father Pope Francis, in a move that received little attention in US Catholicism, issued a Moto Proprio Spiritus Domini, in which he ordered that Canon 320 of the Code of Canon Law be altered...
The Ordinary Liturgy of Everyday Life
At the beginning of this month, we celebrated the Solemnity of Epiphany. During the Mass, after the Gospel, there has long been the custom of the solemn presentation of the Epiphany Proclamation. This dates back many centuries to the days...
Cardinal Pell and his Cheerleaders
On Wednesday, following the unexpected death of Australian Cardinal George Pell, Vatican journalist Sandro Magister revealed that Pell was “Demos,” the author of an anti-papal memo that Magister published back in March 2022, claiming at the time that it was...
“Holding fast to the Lord’s last words”
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46). Pope Francis’s homily today for the funeral Mass of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was a meditation on these, the last words of Christ. He said that Christ offers an invitation...
For Pope Benedict, Love is the Key to Evangelization
As reported by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the last words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI were “Lord, I love you.” These final words uttered by Benedict were an authentic testimony to the Christian theology of love that was a constant theme...
‘The Gospel Terrifies Me’: Tough Love and Pope Ratzinger
We, the admirers of Pope Benedict XVI, will always assert that, rather than “God’s Rottweiler,” our beloved Holy Father was a shy and gentle intellectual, who administered doctrinal discipline with the precept that correction is one of the Spiritual Works...
5 Quotes from Pope Benedict that changed my life
As we continue to celebrate and reflect upon Pope Benedict’s life and legacy, I thought I would share five quotes that surprised me and which have had a profound impact on my life and my understanding of the faith. Each...
Pope Benedict XVI: Cooperator with truth
Today, my heart is heavy. It is heavy, because one person close to my heart has died – and along with him, a piece of my life story. Besides my blood relatives and God the Father, this man was the...
The Kenosis of Christmas
A few days ago, Fr. Casey Cole, OFM, tweeted that, “If the story of Christmas doesn’t shake you, you might be missing the point.” He linked to a video that conveyed the familiar scold that, instead of focusing on gifts...
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