The Life of Virtue

This coming Sunday, I will begin presenting a parish/diocesan faith formation series, a Church History course entitled "Building the City of God."  The name was given to the seminar before the first time I taught it because of my deep affinity for St. Augustine; and because of the idea that our actions either build or destroy the City of God about which he wrote.  I only pray that my actions build up that city, not tear it down. The current seminar meets for eight sessions, during which I will present only the first half of the Church's 2000-year history.  I will take up the task of presenting the second half after the new year.  In the mean time, I'll be honing other Church History seminars or developing new ones.  There's always something in my brain and something in the works! It is likely that this seminar will be recorded on video, so I should be able to post clips to this website as well as send out promo videos.  I beg for your prayers, and I beg that you p...

In recent years, an abundance of prayers for more priests (diocesan and those of religious communities) have been sent to the Father.  Without a doubt, those prayers have been heard; and there clearly are many more men who are listening for God's call rather than following the way of the world.  The report on the ordination class of 2009 reveals that truth. Personally, I am good friends with three of the men who were ordained for my home diocese.  From my interaction with them, I know that they are men of prayer and that they seek holiness above all things.  The godfather of my son said the following shortly before his ordination: “People would be surprised to know that I was raised Catholic, but became Southern Baptist in High School through the influence of friends and the general inactivity of the parish where I attended Mass in high school.  I came back to the Catholic Church in College through prayer and study.  It was primarily the Eucharist that brought be back to the Churc...

The Lectionary Readings for this past Sunday's Mass are available at http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/092009.shtml .  Hopefully, you remember them rather than having to look at them on the internet... Isn’t it interesting that some people try to discredit Jesus Christ?  Isn’t it interesting that some people place their own knowledge and beliefs higher than the revelation of God?  Isn’t it interesting that some people attempt to find flaws in Christian Tradition? The first reading for this coming Sunday is interesting because there seems to be an entire group of people who want to subject “the just one” (Christ) to ridicule, revilement, and torture.  Why?  Simply because their ways did not align with the ways of Him who is perfectly just and righteous. Have you ever done this?  Have you ever “looked down” upon Jesus in an attempt to make yourself feel better about your own actions or beliefs?  Let it not be so!  Look up to Him and try to conform your ways to His Truth! G...

Yesterday marked the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time; and the Responsorial Psalm had a huge impact on me.  The following are my reflections. Many times in our lives, we are tempted to scream out in want or need, “O Lord, save my life!”  We may even be tempted to do that when the thing or result we desire is not what’s truly best for us.  See, God is not a crutch; and He’s not a person to whom we talk only when we want or need something. God wants to save our lives (indeed, He has already provided that opportunity), but salvation only comes when we are ready to conform our ways to His ways.  To “call upon the name of the Lord” in distress and sorrow alone won’t provide what we’re looking for.  God is less like a divine candy store (a place to get something that makes you feel good for a short period of time) and more like a divine fitness center (a place that bears results after long periods of hard work and personal transformation). God bless!

I was recently interviewed for the nationally-syndicated radio show, The Catholic Cafe .  The show is geared toward uncatechized adult Catholics, potential reverts, and potential converts.  The show is a great tool of evangelization! The topic about which I was interviewed was "Catholic Youth."  During the two short segments, I had an opportunity to share my experiences of how young Catholics are living out their faith and breathing new energy into the Church.  I pray that my snippets of wisdom will do some good in the show's work of announcing the Good News. To listen to the interview in its entirety, click here .  Any thoughts you might have are appreciated.

As I promised in a recent post, here is a rough outline of the talk that I gave for my parish's catechist formation day. Keep in mind the analogy of the sailboat Sailboat needs two things to work: raised sails and wind Without one or the other, boat doesn't go anywhere Who?  You are the sailboat You, the person (universal call to holiness; definition of virtuous life by St. Gregory of Nyssa) You, the catechist (virtuous person desires to share such a gift; Evangelii Nuntiandi 41; virtuous catechist sows seeds of virtue in his/her learners) Specific examples of how this looks in a catechetical setting (e.g., PRE class or adult faith formation seminar) How?  You must work to raise the sails Create an awareness in prayer (gain deeper understanding of virtue; read and pray passages of Scripture, Catechism; Consciousness Examen; etc.) Directed/focused prayer Sacraments Action based on God's revelation Repeat the cycle (create habits that are strong ...