God by Participation
One of the themes most emphasized by the documents of Vatican II was the importance of the People of God. Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, has 41 references to the People of God. This is the subject...
Category: Reflection
Advent Reflection: Yes to Grace
In the world of improv comedy, there is a practice called “yes-and.” In an improv session, if something strange or shocking or difficult to understand is mooted, the next person in the session does not resist or attempt to backpedal...
The Personal Law of Christ
[Author’s note: Conservative Catholics sometimes argue that Pope Francis puts too much emphasis on the social dimension of Catholic teaching; they worry that such an emphasis on the communal will distort the Church’s moral teachings. In reality, however, the Church...
Salvation in Imperfection
There are, in every parish, those who can be relied upon to be always late for Mass. They are sometimes referred to as the “Gloria crowd.” My deacon in one parish was a retired military man, whose adulation for the...
Advent Reflection: John the Baptist’s Joy
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...
Reconciliation, Renewal, and Rebirth
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 Reflection: In Danger
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 Consummates with Encounter
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...
Advent Reflection: Meeting the Law
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...
Pope Francis on protecting the truth of the faith
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...
The Virtue of the Rich?
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...
Wholly Sacrifice
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?...
Popular Posts