Perfectionism vs Perfection
A Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as...
Tagged: scrupulosity
Knowing the Father’s Love and Mercy
A reflection on the readings for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 11, 2022. “Filled with compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” The parables of mercy, three of which we hear today, are meant...
Panning for God
Panning for gold “is slow, backbreaking work.”[i] The panner stands knee-deep in cold, running water, scooping up the deposit at the bottom of the stream and slowly swirling it in his pan. The heavier rocky material, such as gold, remains...
Sacramental Validity and Scrupulosity
The abbot dipped his right thumb in the chrism and made the sign of the cross on my forehead, He said, “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” I responded, “Amen.” The abbot then said, “Peace be with...
OCD, Scrupulosity, and the Journey of Faith
On an unexceptional Friday in February 2012, I came home for a weekend away from college life, as students regularly do. What set my trip apart from others was my motivation: I wasn’t looking to visit family or pets, nor...
Invalid Sacraments: Can you be damned on a technicality?
In light of the recent news from Detroit about a Catholic priest who discovered his baptism as an infant was invalid, Adam Rasmussen and DW Lafferty join me to discuss the Church’s approach to sacramental validity, scrupulosity, and confidence in...
John Calvin and Communion in the Hand
John Calvin, the Reformation theologian in Geneva who lead the development of Protestant theology, was nothing if not a brilliant mind. Calvin’s contributions to the history of theology are almost always wrong, but they are so skillfully wrong that I...
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