My Sister’s Heart
One of the most formative events of my life happened a year before I was born. When she was about six weeks old, my sister Katie—my parents’ firstborn, the answer to prayer after years of infertility—was found to have a...
Category: Reflection
We Can’t Hide in Church
Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront approaches the zenith of American cinema. Winner of all the principal Academy Awards in its day, it remains worth watching whether one wants to witness Hollywood great Marlon Brando at his peak or wants simply...
Ascension via Kenosis
In worldly terms, ascension connotes a promotion or a rise in status. Society encourages us to ascend corporate and social ladders in order to enrich our lives with more opportunity, more money, and more prestige. In Christian terms, however, Jesus...
We’re All a Little Dense
Can we all admit that we are often far less smart than we think we are? It’s not as much a matter pride or arrogance—although perhaps that’s part of it—but we often lack perspective and wisdom. Surely, we’ve had the...
Apologia liturgica: A Catholic life in six Masses
I was born and baptized in 1962, and after I reached the age of reason, the only Mass I had ever experienced was the post-Vatican II Novus Ordo. This was the case while I misgrew in the faith and lapsed...
Good Shepherds: Always with the people of God
Today is “Good Shepherd Sunday,” and it is also the Church’s annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations. This morning, Pope Francis ordained nine men to the priesthood for the diocese of Rome, telling them in his homily, that they...
Love is the most urgent political issue
Earlier this year, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) gave an interview on National Public Radio from her congressional office. Another day on Capitol Hill. Except on this day she was holed up with another member and a staffer, splitting water and...
The Social Dimension of Sin, Repentance, and Reconciliation
A reflection on the Sunday readings for April 18, 2021 — The Third Sunday of Easter It is rare for all three Sunday liturgy readings to have a common theme. Today is one of those rare Sundays. Sin, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation—we...
Interceding like Mary
Intercessory prayer has been a part of my life since I can remember. My family prayed daily since I was an infant. Our prayer time included worship songs, Scripture, and petitions. We would close by singing the Our Father together....
Divine Mercy: The way of freedom
This is a reflection on the readings of April 11, 2021, the Second Sunday of Easter, the Sunday of Divine Mercy Who are the freest people in the world? If you are an American, your first thought might be that...
Encountering Christ the Consoler
As Lent 2021 began, many joked that they felt the penitential season had not ended since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. While well-meaning, this humor belies the profound stress, change, fear, sickness, and loss that has transpired...
“With him, life begins anew”
In his Easter Vigil homily tonight at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Francis once again emphasized the theme of amazement that has characterized Holy Week this year. He describes the amazement of the women who discovered the empty tomb...
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