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…
Catholic Pop Culture 2019
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…
All That Lasts Forever
A short reflection this Monday: According to our best scientists, the universe will end. Entropy is a real thing where all of the energy will eventually be used up. The cosmos will then either fade away like the dying embers…
Journeying As Evangelization
In my last article, I wrote about how if you give tacit approval to people who are doing something morally evil then you are complicit. However, I believe I should also make a bit of a clarification. We want to…
Ferrymen on the Way to Hell
Recently there was a news story about a man named Robert Fuller. He was a man dying of cancer who took his own life. This, in and of itself, is sad and tragic. What makes this story sting is that…