Amen, amen I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat: but if it dies, It produces much fruit. (John 12:24, NAB) Every year I buy seed…
A few weeks ago I read a great book, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus, by Sherry A. Weddell. There is a general review on my blog. I would like to focus on one part of the…
Readings for March 17, 2013: Fifth Sunday of Lent It really looked like the end of the road for her. Caught in the act of a capital crime, her fate lay in the hands of an angry mob. Desiring to…
God’s word says: “Store up treasures in heaven.” (Mt 6:20) “You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt 6:24) “Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God… . Do…
Albert Einstein derived the formula E = mc² over a century ago. I love this equation…it’s easier to understand than you might guess. E is energy; m is mass (you know, stuff); and c² is the speed of light squared, which…
Scene: The vestibule of a church after Sunday noon Mass. A middle-aged woman – let’s call her the Good Catholic – approaches a like-aged woman who is leaving the church with her 15-year-old and 17-year-old sons. The latter has…
Lent is, well, a pain. In recent years, it’s turned into something that I personally struggle with into something that I also have to wrench my family through. It’s a desert, alright. A big, fat, empty, pain-in-my-rear-end desert. So why do…
It looks like we have the newest papal interregnum ritual: the Sede Vacante @Pontifex Twitter account. We have the dismissal of the Swiss Guards, the sealing off of the Papal Apartments. The liturgies. The tears. And the Sede Vacante Twitter…
At times I struggle to live humbly. One could assume that because I am a mother of young children whose activities keep me pulled in so many directions I can barely cook a decent meal and whose honesty rarely shies…
For many, Lent means spiritual self-improvement through sacrifice. It’s often all about what to “give up” for Lent. But Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness was not for his own sake. It was all to prepare for his ministry, a…