Blame Yourself
On Sunday, August 29th, Pope Francis provided a brief exegesis of the day’s Gospel passage from Mark, in which Jesus berated the hypocrites who “honor God with their lips” but whose hearts are far from him. For those who have...
Category: Reflection
Jesus asks for more than the bare minimum
At the height of my struggles with scrupulosity and self-accusation, my dad often attempted to console me by telling me that I wasn’t as bad as I thought—after all, I was “not killing anybody.” This was a thoughtful gesture, but...
Prioritizing commandments
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, August 29, 2021 — The Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Today’s first reading depicts Moses introducing the laws he is about to teach the Israelites. The commandments God has given allow them to live...
“I’m still converting!”
Years ago, my pastor took a group of men from my parish on a pilgrimage down to Mexico City, to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyac Hill—where Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531—and...
No one is an accidental creation
In my thirty years on this earth, I have strived to live according to the commandments handed down by God fully manifest in the incarnate and risen Jesus Christ. It is never easy, regardless of which commandment. While all are...
Our Unfolding Suffering
Many Catholics today try to find solace in their suffering by imposing meaning upon their experiences. The desire to make sense of the chaos of the modern age often leads people to attempt to customize their lives and the lives...
Clothed with the Glory of God
There is an ancient tradition that before the Fall, Adam and Eve were clothed with the Glory of God. Their relationship with God was so intimate that His life radiated out from their very skin. When Eve looked at Adam,...
We must address the structural issues that plague the Church
In Pope Francis’s 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, he expressed his desire for a renewed missionary impulse throughout the entire Church. Francis called for the Church to become more mission-oriented by making “ordinary pastoral activity on every level more inclusive...
Prayer Is a Prerequisite for Holiness
In the United States, a pervasive intellectualism continues its stranglehold on Catholics, thwarting our flourishing. Again and again, we hear the need for “doctrinal clarity,” or about how Pope Francis is “confusing.” Many seem to believe that being clear-minded and...
Disagreeing with the Church
What do you do when you find yourself in disagreement with a Church teaching or objecting to a discipline that the Church legitimately imposes? Many Catholics find themselves in this place at some point in their life of faith. Some...
God, evil, and hope
The German cardinal Walter Kasper opens the first chapter of his book Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by describing the twentieth century as “a horrible century in many respects.” Continuing his deplorable description...
The Miracle of Sharing
In his Angelus address this morning, Pope Francis spoke about today’s Gospel reading, the Miracle of the Loaves that opens the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. As he has done in the past, Pope Francis made...
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