Can Prayer Empty Hell?
Pope Francis, in a recent interview, said that “I like to think hell is empty; I hope it is.” There will no doubt be a lot of discussion about this, but I would like to add my viewpoint on the...
Tagged: prayer
St. Thérèse’s Closeness to the Lost
Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on St. Thérèse of Lisieux, C’est la confiance (“It is confidence”), discusses at length an aspect of Theresian spirituality that is widely known but not widely examined. Thérèse is an enormously appealing saint, with there being...
Prayers for Morocco
After a devastating earthquake struck Morocco on September 8 of this year, killing and injuring thousands of people– the deadliest earthquake in Morocco since a 5.9-magnitude earthquake in 1960–homes in villages across the High Atlas Mountains were demolished and residents...
Homework for the life of our community
Reflection on the readings for Sunday, September 10, the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the last few weeks, many families have reached the end of the summer break and have returned to school. I’ve talked to many people in...
Missionary zeal from a hospital bed
After yesterday’s 40-minute visit to a Roman hospital for a “check up,” Pope Francis participated this morning in his usual Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s square, where he spoke about St. Therese of the Child Jesus and afterwards greeted...
Pope to DRC youth: “From your hands, tomorrow can be born”
Pope Francis spoke today to a group of young people and catechists as he continued his pilgrimage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In his address, he asked those gathered to look at the five fingers on each of...
Ordinary Holiness
A reflection on the scripture readings for January 15, 2023, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Last Sunday, on the Feast of Epiphany, we reflected on the star that led the magi. I once preached on the Epiphany that in...
Prayers for Pope Benedict
Please join with us as we continue to pray for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose health, we learned earlier today, has taken a turn for the worse. I have not seen any recent updates. The Vatican Press office confirmed this...
Why do we pray for those who have died?
November is the month of All Souls. It is a time when we Catholics remember and pray for those who have died. The Church sets aside this month especially for prayer on behalf of the souls of those in Purgatory....
Life is Prayer, Prayer is Life
A reflection on the readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 16, 2022. In 2019, while preaching my homily on the same scripture readings we have today, I said, “I would like to take 2019 and just throw...
Pope Francis, discernment, and spontaneity
One of the transformational moments in my spiritual journey was the realization that in order to grow in faith and my relationship with God, I would have to learn to live with tension and uncertainty. Accepting and living with tension...
Prayer for Autumn
As the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is a season for everything. Not all of us are afforded the feeling of readiness for the changes as they come our way. For some, change can’t come soon enough. No matter...
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