Whereas the lectionary readings for the two previous Sundays have contained dire warnings about what is in store for us all if we fail to adequately prepare for Christ’s coming, today’s readings leaven these warnings with joy, a foretaste of...
Advent is a time of preparation, a time of celebration, and a time of reflection. If our minds and hearts are truly focused on the season as a time of preparation for the birth of Christ, then we must enter...
Advent, and thus the liturgical year, begins with a whole flurry of liturgical readings, spiritual devotions, and popular hymns referring to concepts like “captive Israel” and “the curse of the Law.” In the New Testament’s theological and cultural language these...
Evangelization is a term that is oftentimes misunderstood, taken to mean the desire to conform another’s will to our own, rather than lovingly introducing those we meet to Christ and the love he offers to all. So often throughout the...
When I was in high school in South Jersey in the late 2000s, I had a classmate who thought that pie was the funniest thing in the world. It wasn’t that pie was his favorite food or that he liked...
Anyone who has played youth baseball or softball has seen a backstop, a large structure made of chain-link fencing that is erected behind home plate to serve as a barrier in case a wild pitch or errant throw gets past...
Sometimes, the Church’s call to embrace voluntary poverty and her emphasis on the poor and oppressed can seem counterproductive. After all, growing in virtue is an important part of the Christian life—and wealth would seem to be conducive to such...
The preparation for the Synod on Synodality is enabling the Church to take a deeper look at her own reality. What constitutes the Church? What makes us the Church? How do the members of the Church fit and work together?...
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18) There is a legendary story,...
I believe that love is a requirement for disappointment. I love the Catholic Church. I’ve shared this story many times, but during the summer following my high school graduation, at a Steubenville Youth Conference, I fell in love with Jesus,...
Always lost for words, I never knew what to say to God as I tried to focus my attention on him at Sunday Mass. I admit that I did not always find Mass interesting. I attended every week mostly out...
My schedule today meant that I was unable to attend Mass at my parish, and I wound up going to Mass at another nearby church for All Saints’ Day. The Mass was celebrated simply — there was no music, there...
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