A few years ago, my wife had her job downsized. It was quite a shock to both of us, as you can imagine. We began to worry about making our mortgage payments or if we had enough money for our…
The Freedom of Voluntary Sacrifice
Wrestling with God
In the Book of Genesis, Jacob was asleep, anticipating the next day. He was camped away from his old home, afraid of his older brother Esau. Years earlier, Jacob had tricked his brother out of his birthright and then tricked…
The Calcification of the Soul
When you are young, you are a being of pure potential. Your life and your future stretch out with endless possibilities. Remember what it was like to one day want to be an astronaut and the next to be a…
Catholic Pop Culture 2019
As I have in years past, I shall recall any good things from the popular culture that are harmonious or helpful to Catholic culture. There were many things this past year and many things coming up in 2020 that are…
When It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas
We are told that this is the most joyous holiday of the year. But for many, Advent and Christmas conjure feelings of sorrow. For most of us, we have magical Christmas memories from our childhood. The bright colored lights filled…
The Freedom of Forgiveness
In my last essay, I wrote about the importance of forgiveness. We are called to never stop forgiving those who have hurt us. But I would like to take time in this article to talk about the benefit to the…
Never Stop Forgiving
One of my favorite stories about the Sacred Heart revelations is when St. Margret Mary Alacoque told her confessor, Fr. Claude de la Colombière, that she was seeing visions of Jesus. Fr. Claude asked for proof. He told her to…
Clarity and Confusion
There is a song that was particularly dear to me many years ago when I came to my conversion experience. One of the lyrics goes “Lord, take the darkness from my min, when confusion makes me blind, come renew me…
No Detente with the World
“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but…
The Failure of the Saints
St. Francis of Assisi went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When he returned, he found out that two of his vicars has made changes to the Franciscan community. Francis was shocked to find his brothers living in a…