Readings for November 1, 2013: Solemnity of All Saints At age 16, I thought that aspiring to holiness was out of the question. If you really wanted to be holy, I thought, you had to be a priest, nun, or…
All Saints Day Means Holiness is for All
The Pharisee and the Publican
Readings for October 27, 2013: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Each year, at one of our country’s leading Catholic universities, a professor does a survey with his incoming class of students. He puts to them this question: “If you were…
Make Time for a Psalm-Sized Prayer Snack
Readings for October 20, 2013: Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time I’ve often heard people say that they don’t want to trouble God with their petty needs and concerns. After all, he has more important things to attend to, like running…
A Lifestyle of Thanksgiving
Readings for October 13, 2013: Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Leprosy is a dreadful thing anywhere, anytime. But in the ancient Near East, it was a particularly heavy burden to bear since it meant complete social isolation. You could, of…
Mustard Seed Faith
Readings for October 6, 2013: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time We all admire the heroes of faith like St. Francis (feast day, October 4). Absolutely nothing stopped him in his pursuit of God’s glory. When, during the Crusades, he was…
Protecting Our Addictions
Readings for September 29, 2013: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Temperance. For older American, that word conjures up images of Carrie Nation shattering bottles of gin to usher in Prohibition. But the word temperance does not mean abstinence from alcohol…
A Lesson in Stewardship
Readings for September 22, 2013: Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Our society tolerates religion, as long as it keeps to itself. After all, America is about the separation of Church and state, right? Education, entertainment, employment, politics are supposed to…
What the Prodigal Son and the Golden Calf teach us about sin
Readings for September 15, 2013: Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Everyone knows the bible stories of the Prodigal Son and the Golden Calf. But they don’t usually put the two together as this Sunday’s readings do. So what do the…
Terrorism and the Cross
September 11, 2001 is a day that never will be forgotten. Most of us can remember exactly where we were when we heard the news. An airliner had crashed into one of New York’s twin towers. When a second plane…
A Gospel to Make You Squirm
Readings for September 8, 2013: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time When I was a kid, I got the distinct impression there existed a two-track system in Catholicism. Some really decided to go for it. They became priests, nuns, and brothers…