The Life of Virtue

I am extremely passionate about catechesis.  Any time I have a chance to teach a subject to a group of people, I get as giddy as a child on Christmas morning!  Whether I teach Church History, morality, or Liturgy; whether I teach adults or teenagers, I am engaged in an important and fulfilling apostolate.  Further, and even better, I am cultivating my vocation through one of the charisms that God has given to me. Since I came into the Catholic Church nearly five years ago, I have worked in very specific ways to cultivate both the vocation and charism.  The fruit of that work resides in the courses and retreats that I have developed in recent years.  Such courses, and one retreat, are listed below. "Building the City of God: A Survey of the History of the Catholic Church" "The Second Vatican Council" "The History of the Catholic Church in America" "The Mass in Scripture and Scripture in the Mass" "We H...

My wife and I are celebrating three wonderful years of marriage today!  I am most grateful to my God, who has helped sanctify me through my covenant bond to this beautiful woman.  I only pray that the Lord will allow my growth in holiness to continue because of the grace that comes from Marriage in general, and from my interaction with a holy woman specifically. I LOVE YOU, BABE!

This morning, Pope Benedict XVI met with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  All of the major news outlets have picked up on it, and so have the minor ones.  The report from MSNBC can be found here ; Fox News's counterpart here .  Reports can also be found on Catholic websites and blogs, like this one . In addition to the third-party reports, a person who has interest in this particular situation can access the statements released by each of the participating parties, the Pontiff and the Speaker.  The statement released by the Vatican's press office is available here .  Speaker Pelosi's statement about the meeting is available on her House of Representatives website: http://speaker.house.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1015 . After having accessed all of the reports and official statements, there are a few inconsistencies in information.  At best, one or both offices suffers from short-term memory loss; at w...

During the past week of the liturgical year, three memorial celebrations of martyred Christians have taken place.  Tuesday marked the memorial of St. Blase ; Thursday, that of St. Agatha ; and Friday, the memorial of St. Paul Miki and his companions .  Although each of these saints were greatly distanced from each other by time and space, there certainly was a common theme in their lives.  That theme was their love of Jesus Christ and His Church, as well as their willingness to die for the truth contained therein.   (Representation of the crucifixion of St. Paul Miki and his companions in Japan, 1597.  Borrowed from website of The Living Water Community ) The word "martyr" is a Greek word that is easily translated into English as "witness."  Further,  the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a martyr (in its modern, English usage) as "a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing t...