Being a Christian is not easy. We know a certain amount of difficulty comes with the Christian life: difficulties in doing good; opposition from the world; efforts to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. But there are…
Difficulties in Prayer
Reflections on the Immaculate Conception
This week we will be celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We Catholics believe in the Dogma that the Virgin Mary was conceived without Original Sin. Some of our Protestant brothers and sisters sometimes misunderstand this dogma. They infer…
Killing Them With Kindness
One thing I have learned about bullies: they want a reaction from you. Many of us were bullied in school at some point. Perhaps we were singled out because of our size, our looks, or our personalities. I’m sure I…
Dealing with Negative Comments
One of the biggest challenges of saying things on social media is dealing with the comments. The problem is not the comments that are supportive, or the comments that genuinely seek after the truth. It’s the other ones. You know…
Guard Against Casual Cruelty
I was reflecting on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. It began like this: “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid…
Analogies and the Trinity
The Trinity is at the heart of the Christian Faith. We Christians believe that God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We do not believe in three gods. Like our Jewish ancestors in faith, we are monotheists,…
Story-Telling
Story-telling is a basic part of being human, and we humans are also story-makers. Our lives have a beginning, a middle, an end, a cast of characters, a plot. While every human culture includes storytelling, not all cultures tell the…
Covert Yourself Before The World
I was recently in a conversation with someone who said that the billionaires of the world like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates could be saving so many lives if they gave up their massive fortunes towards acts of charity. The…
Why Does God Rest On The Seventh Day?
“On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.” (Genesis 2:2) God is All-Powerful. An All-Powerful Being should never get tired. So why does…
Explaining the Substantial Change of the Eucharist
The Eucharist might be the strangest of all Catholic beliefs. For those of us who grew up with the faith, we also experienced our understanding grow from a childlike acceptance of Jesus’ hidden presence to a more mature spiritual insight…