Posts

Hope During Difficult Times

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Catholics are living in difficult times.  There are multiple, huge scandals that have come to light in recent weeks.  Now, even segments of the hierarchy seems to be pitted against each other.  It seems to be getting more heated and dire as each day passes.  It surely is not easy for the laity and faithful clergy to stand by and watch as all this unfolds. This post is not intended to add to the enormous (and growing) mountain of commentary about the scandals; about who's in the wrong or in the right.  There has been plenty written and spoken about this, including a wonderful homily from my own pastor .  I do, however, want to provide just a simple and quick commentary on a passage of Scripture that I think can help us. Horace Vernet, Jeremiah on the Ruins of Jerusalem (1844, close-up) In the very first chapter of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, we read God's direction to the ancient prophet, and we should read it as the Lord speaking directly to u...
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A Prayer During Illness & Suffering

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For the past two years, I have suffered a particular type of severe physical ailment on nearly a daily basis.   This suffering has been debilitating and frustrating because I have never dealt with such pain, suffering, or limitation ever before in my life.   On many days over the past two years, I have found myself asking the Lord why He is allowing this to happen; asking Him how this is for His greatest glory.   I want to see that everything He gives to me, and everything I do, is for my good and His glory, but I just haven’t been able to see it all that well. God has funny ways of answering my questions, which are usually more like complaints.   He gives me a little wink and a proverbial elbow-nudge in the side to remind me that He does know what’s going on and that He’s still in charge. Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola.   I was reading one of Ignatius’s letters to a friend, and I came across another one of God’s divine winks. ...
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Oases in the Desert

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Life is tough.   On many days, our spiritual lives can feel like a desert (especially if you live in west Tennessee during the summer).   For lengthy periods (hours, days, weeks, months, or even years), we seem to be unable to experience the joy, peace, and consolation of the Lord that we so deeply desire.   Who among us hasn’t felt spiritual dryness at some point in our lives, as teenagers or adults? If we are not prepared for this reality, it is possible that our souls will become permanently parched and petrified.   We become unable to receive any of the living water that God wants to pour out upon us.   I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my soul to become like that. Photo found at KCET.com We can learn a lot about this situation from the history of Israel, God’s chosen people.  Our spiritual lives mirror their story in many ways.  If we can learn the lessons that God desired to teach Israel, then perhaps we will receive the Lo...
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St. Justin Martyr & the Life of Virtue

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This morning, I happened to remember that today is the feast day of St. Justin Martyr, who lived, taught, and died in the second century A.D.  I found my copy of his most notable and commonly-read treatise, First Apology .  As I read that text, I found myself longing to read and ponder more of his rich teaching and devotion.  I want to live up to the example of this courageous Christian of antiquity. Several short passages stood out to me, but I found one that is now my favorite of his.  Of course, it deals with virtuous living.  He states: "And we have been taught, and are convinced, and do believe, that He accepts those only who imitate the excellences which reside in Him, temperance, and justice, and philanthropy, and as many virtues as are peculiar to a God who is called by no proper name." Indeed, God accepts us most fully when we are responding to His grace and cultivating virtue in our lives.  This is especially because they are His virtues....
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The Quiet, Beautiful Inspiration of the Christmas Season

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The Christmas season is beautiful and inspiring.  During Christmastide, many of us have more time for quiet contemplation, and we are able to ponder images such as stables and shepherds and Magi and gifts.  This season’s stillness and quiet allow us to realize that God showers abundant blessings on us, and that He is preparing us for a dynamic mission.  We need to listen and ponder what God has in store.  The iconic images of Christmas are a window into beautiful trends in our lives for the year ahead. Gaspare Diziani, Adoration of the Shepherds (ca. A.D. 1755) The images of the Christmas season remind us to be more childlike in our faith, gazing in wonder at the God who became man.  The Incarnation is a central tenet of our faith, and it is necessary for each of us to grow in our devotion to the reality of God-in-Flesh.  We could take the whole year to ponder this truth and not exhaust its richness.  Yet, secular modernity will tell us that ...
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Gratitude: Foundation of Our Spiritual Growth

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Gratitude is not simply a quaint idea to which we should tip our caps during a few short weeks in November each fall.  It is important that we move beyond a trite understanding and application, and come to understand the real place of gratitude in the spiritual life.  It is nothing less than a virtue and disposition that is at the foundation of our potential spiritual growth.  (In a corresponding way, its absence is at the “foundation” of spiritual stagnation.) Before we ever begin to speak of spiritual realities, gratitude simply helps us to get by more efficiently, effectively, and happily than the opposite alternative.  Grateful people grow and flourish, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, in ways that ungrateful people do not.  Still, we must resist the temptation to deal with gratitude simply on the natural level.  We must bring these principles to the supernatural level and grasp them there. We must come to understand that gratitude...
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The Message and Ministry of Mercy

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[Thanks to the Brownsville Press newspaper for offering the opportunity to publish this article and work to reclaim Christian culture in our country.  This article was published on September 27, 2017.] Mercy is a perplexing reality.  We hear frequently of God’s mercy, made manifest in Jesus Christ, from pastors and fellow Christians.  We read of God’s merciful provision for His people, and of Jesus’ acts of mercy, throughout the Sacred Scriptures.  Mercy is central to the perfect prayer that Jesus taught us: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Mt. 6:12; emphasis added).  Still, it is difficult for many of us to understand and apply the full extent of God’s mercy.  Quite often, we desire that God’s mercy be extended to us, for we know that we are sinners, but we are slower to extend God’s mercy to others.  We simply don’t get the fact that God’s mercy is for everyone, every time. During the past couple of Su...
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