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A Catholic blogger's meager attempt to recapture the meaning of some...
As a half-German, half-Hispanic American, whose family held onto many traditions, I have a strong sense of their value. Even though many of my family's traditions may have been modified to better suit...
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Christmas Gift Giving and Christian Love...
A brief theology of gift...At the heart of the Christmas experience is the gift. It moves us profoundly. John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son. It is not that the...
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My experience of Midnight Mass this year...
This Advent season has been a very difficult time for many people whether it is because of the Sandy Hook shootings, joblessness, weather related phenomena, the looming fiscal cliff, or what-have-you;...
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The Hobbit - How Jackson lacks the subtlety of Tolkien...
I went to see "The Hobbit" a couple weeks ago. I will admit that I found the movie enjoyable, as movies go. I am not bothered by 'slow' movies or 'long' movies. I was fully expecting a greater amount...
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The Wedding: an Image of Revelation 21...
I had the privilege of attending the wedding of a good friend of mine this last weekend. It was a beautiful wedding with beautiful music and a beautiful wedding. Beauty was just oozing from every nook...
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Should Catholics find out the sex of their children before birth?
Since finding out that my wife and I are expecting our first child, I have been debating whether or not we should determine the sex of our child using ultrasound or if we should wait. I have asked...
View ArticleThe Common Origin of the Rad-Trad, Liturgico-Liberal...
Let me begin by defining my terms. I am not here speaking of what we in world of popular Catholic culture generally refer to as a Rad-Trad. I am speaking of a very specific type of...
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My experience of the Catholic Migration...
Taylor Marshall, over at the Canterbury Tales, recently wrote about the "Great Catholic Migration" that is taking place in our time. The title may sound a bit exaggerated, as he goes on to point out...
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Four suggestions for praying better at Mass...
Have you ever fallen into the routine of worship? What I mean is, the recitation of prayers and the adoption of certain postures and gestures without any thought of what you are doing. If you are...
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The Witness of Fasting
Last Sunday, a good priest friend of mine mentioned something in his homily which made me think, particularly with Lent coming up. To paraphrase, he noted that many people in the secular world are...
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Fasting with St. Thomas Aquinas...
Unfortunately, St. Thomas was limited by the science of his time, and so much of his reasoning, though logical is founded on bad science. That being the case, I have chosen to leave out sections from...
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You're a Bad Person and God Will Never Change His Mind About You...
In case you have not been to Mass lately and/or failed to notice the change of liturgical colors, we are now in the season of Lent. For the pious, that may be a good thing. It may be a time to inwardly...
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Reading the Gospel of the Third Sunday of Lent with the Church Fathers...
This coming Sunday, the Third Sunday of Lent, we hear what is a somewhat enigmatic parable concerning yet another tree. The passage from Luke 13, is perfused with a sense repentance. It can be and is a...
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What Is Missing From Our Conversation About the Morning After Pill
On February 21 it was reported that the German Bishops of Trier released a statement announcing that emergency contraception known as the "Morning-after Pill" (MAP) can be used in cases of rape if it...
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When God speaks we need to respond with proper spiritual grammar...
Every good sentence is made up of a subject and a predicate. In two words, God summed up who He is: I am. His own words express to us the unfathomable depth of His being, He is. Subject = God....
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St. Thomas Aquinas Answers the Question: Do We Worship Christ's Cross on Good...
God love us, this issue seems to remain unanswered in most parishes. The more practical question that pops up is whether we use a bare cross or the crucifix for veneration of Good Friday. Some, like...
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Wedding Feast: An opportunity missed
I slept in recently on a Sunday, not too late, but late enough to have to go to a parish other than my own. My wife and I arrived a few minutes late, and to make matters worse, there wasn't a parking...
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The History of Henry VIII: an opportunity taken...
"To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant." ~ Bl. John Henry Cardinal NewmanLast week I wrote about an opportunity missed. This week, I seized an opportunity.Yesterday, for the first time...
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Treading Lightly on the Sacred Ground
"Do not come nearer; rather take the shoes from thy feet, thou art standing on holy ground." (Ex 3:5)The spiritual life is sacred ground, but often times we tread clumsily and heavily as if it were...
View ArticleThree Musts of the New Evangelization
If we face up to the facts, we have lost some serious ground in the culture wars. It is not because what we have to say is not true, or right, or loving. It is because the way we say it is...
View ArticleIgniting the World
Sometimes we get fixated on the words in this last Sunday's gospel about division within our households, but there is another verse which is often forgotten, namely "There is a baptism with which I...
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No-Shave November: A Catholic Approach
Image taken from Wikimedia CommonsNo-Shave November is a growing campaign to promote awareness in the fight against cancer. It began in 2009 and has since gained momentum from year to year. Another...
View ArticleThe Difference Between Hockey, Football, and Soccer is Catholicism
*Warning* I'm an unabashed fan of hockey. I am biased, and I do believe hockey is not only the best sport but the most analogous to Catholicism. Imagine my delight when I discovered Alyssa Bormes book,...
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