Friends, how desperately we often want perfection! We want our looks, our lives, reputations, children, friends, Church, and jobs to be so perfect that we are caught up in the pursuit of perfection and not God. Could this be the temptation of the disciples in the boat? Perhaps the evidence stirs us in...
A reflection on the readings for August 13, 2023, the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time On the first day of this year, January 1, 2023, the popular church hymn Amazing Grace turned 250 years old. I mention it today particularly because if we pay attention to the lyrics, we will find a bit...
The story of the miraculous healing of a young Catholic pilgrim on August 5 in Fatima during the World Youth Day festivities has recently been circulating widely in Catholic media. According to several news sources, the young teenaged Spanish pilgrim named Jimena, who lost 95% of her vision two years ago, had her...
Moreover, the desire of Jesus Christ and of the Church that all the faithful should daily approach the sacred banquet is directed chiefly to this end, that the faithful, being united to God by means of the Sacrament, may thence derive strength to resist their sensual passions, to cleanse themselves from the stains...
St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting Aristotle, begins De Ente et Essentia (On Being and Essence) with the adage, “A small error at the outset can lead to great errors in the final conclusions.” These words apply to a recent article by philosophy professor Edward Feser in Catholic World Report on the “suspended Magisterium” thesis...
On Monday, August 7, 2023, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, posted a link on X (formerly known as Twitter) to an article entitled “Veritatis Splendor vs. Amoris Laetitia” on the Crisis website. He provided a quote from the article that said, “While Veritatis Splendor is in continuity with Scripture and Tradition, Amoris...
Yesterday Pope Francis released a remarkable letter to the priests of the Diocese of Rome, of which he is the diocesan bishop in addition to his numerous other responsibilities and powers over the Church outside central Italy. He warns against several temptations and false or unhelpful attitudes affecting priests’ ministry, including in this...
I first started following Deacon Steven Greydanus about a decade ago, and since then he’s been someone I’ve looked up to. He is one of the very few Catholic public figures on Facebook who I have been able to wholeheartedly recommend to others. He’s modeled what constructive and charitable conversations can look like...
When confronted by the evil in the world, we are often tempted to impatience and rash action. We can appoint ourselves as God’s champions and avengers, scouring the world for evil to eradicate. Such attitudes, however, tend to produce more harm than good. As St. James reminds us, “the wrath of a man...
A reflection on the Scripture Readings for August 6, 2023 — the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The audio version will be available at this link. I was in conversation with a friend about life. We are both facing life-challenges. Somewhere in the conversation, I said, “Sometimes, life does not offer...
LISBON, August 5, 2023 — Pope Francis met yesterday with 17 other religious leaders at Portugal’s Apostolic Nunciature. “We know this is a goal of Pope Francis’ pontificate, this interreligious dialogue,” said Timóteo Cabral, President of the Evangelical Alliance of Portugal, “We all came out of that meeting with the feeling that we...
The Church of Christ is a fascinating and wonderful reality. She is ancient, being almost two thousand years old, but, at the same time, forever young, thanks to the Holy Spirit working within her. The Church is young because her message of salvation is young, that is, relevant for all times. That is why there...
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