Today’s Old Testament reading cues us in on some of the emotions and dispositions that often go along with conversion. We meet Naaman. He’s got things pretty good. He’s “highly esteemed and respected by his master” and is quite successful in his professional…
The Ups and Downs of Conversion
The Original Meaning of Lent
Readings for March 23, 2014: Third Sunday of Lent Lent’s a time of introspection. We read Exodus, and watch the Israelites grumbling, even after the amazing things God had done for them (Ex 17:3-7). In them, we recognize ourselves. For…
Eternal Moment
The Lord our God gave the ultimate sacrifice for humankind – He was hung on a cross and experienced every real moment of that sacrifice as would any human going through the same experience. In those moments, Jesus Christ our…
Be Joyful and Shine Joyful
(I am attempting to give up waxing poetically for Lent. So here is my post, short and simple, with no poetic waxing. Promise.) Joy. It is all really so simple. It is a hit-yourself-in-the-forehead kind of simplicity. God wants us…
Handing Down the Faith, One Story at a Time
I clearly recall my mother reading bedtime stories to us. We’d gather on the couch as she handed us our snack of sliced apples. However, these stories were not about princesses, superheroes, or the like. We would instead curl up…
St. Joseph: Wonder Worker
I pray to St. Joseph every single day. Someone once said to me that St. Joseph actually had it pretty hard in his house. He sat down at the dinner table between the Incarnate Word and the Immaculate Conception; if…
Confessions of a Former Tabloid Writer
What do O.J. Simpson, the Bachelorette, Charlie Sheen, and Angeline Jolie all have in common? The tabloids love them. On the way to the grocery store checkout, one cannot help but notice headlines flashing the latest scandals. If the high…
Lenten Transfiguration
Readings for March 16, 2014: Second Sunday of Lent Imagine: you are ten years past customary retirement age. It’s time finally to kick back and relax. You live in a great city where everything is at your fingertips – shopping…
What’s the Role of the Laity?
I was given a review copy of Catholic Laity in the Mission of the Church: Living Out Your Lay Vocation by Russell Shaw. I looked at the cover: a blob of faceless people dressed the same, doing no-skill-no-brains heavy lifting,…
The Eyes of Love
How can this blemished church be Christ’s Church? How can this mountain of sinners be the city on a hill? The Catholic Church has many critics today. They often point to scars from the past and to wounds still healing…