Readings for August 11, 2013: Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time I recently visited Italy and was reminded of the religious contrast between America and Europe. In Europe, large numbers of people consider themselves agnostics or even atheists. In America, something…
Faith and Belief
Following the Example of Edith Stein
71 years ago today, on August 9, 1942, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) was gassed to death at the Auschwitz death camp. In the eyes of the Nazi government, which had taken over Poland three years before,…
Organic Catechesis with the Bible
Fellow blogger Ruth Curcuru (who uses the handle RAnn) recently commented on a catechetical post from my blog, observing that the current catechetical model takes “a topic-based approach that uses scripture as a resource, rather than a scripture study approach.” …
Live the Love of Marriage
The other day I was working on a project with several other men. During the course of the day one of them got several calls and texts from his wife. When his phone chimed, he would exclaim in a mocking…
On the Necessity of Marriage
When Pope Paul VI wrote his (now in hindsight) prophetic work Humanae Vitae, he made clear that marriage is not simply a societal institution or norm. Marriage is a part of God’s plan for humanity. This is an important point…
Engaging a Worldview
When it comes to sharing the faith, much of our preparation is interiorly focused. And this makes sense. Before we can share God’s love, we must come to believe in it and respond to it ourselves. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI…
“Dating with a Purpose” Discipleship
“Let the one who is thirsty come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water.” (Rev 22:17) In her book Forming Intentional Disciples, Sherry Weddell compares the last threshold to intentional discipleship to “dating with a…
How to Evangelize
A few posts ago I wondered if I was doing enough in terms of evangelization. I also wonder if I am doing it the right way. I suppose that in many ways how to evangelize is not a one-size-fits-all response. …
The Root of All Evil?
Readings for August 4, 2013: Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time In his space trilogy, C.S. Lewis called him “the Bent One.” That is really an apt name for the one the Bible is calls “Satan” or the Accuser. The perverse…
A Different Good Samaritan
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s I took riding lessons and leased a horse at a small stable near Carpinteria. There was a carriage house on the property that was rented out to a series of tenants who came and…