Readings for December 30, 2012: Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Every year right after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. There is an important reason for this. It’s easy to think the…
Feast of the Holy Family
On the Necessity of Heaven
“You only believe in God because you want to go to Heaven.” This is the basic accusation leveled at many believers in this skeptical age. Heaven is the ultimate wish fulfillment fantasy. As Karl Marx called it, it is the…
Evangelizing in the Face of Dissent
“I’m hesitant to evangelize, because I know that I’ll have to steer new Catholics so carefully, just to keep them away from the all the dissent within the Church.” That’s what one faithful Catholic confided, when I brought up the…
Not So Obvious
The miracle of Christmas Day celebrates so many things that are familiar and comforting to us: Jesus among us, God’s generosity, peace on Earth, joy, comforting tunes, familiar traditions. Like all of the lessons of scripture, though, the occurrence of…
The Deeper Meaning of Christmas
Readings for December 25, 2012: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas, Mass at Dawn) In the days of Caesar Augustus, an era of peace was established in the Mediterranean world after centuries of strife. But this peace was…
Christmas Eve
T’was the night before Christmas, when deep in my soul I felt such a peace, not even a worry. The manger was set, the tree lights twinkled Knowing Jesus would soon be here The faithful were sure the Son would…
The First Believer
Readings for December 23, 2012: Fourth Sunday of Advent The Beatitudes rank high on the list of all-time favorite Bible passages. But what is “beatitude,” anyway? In the bible, a “blessed” person is someone who has received gifts of…
Saying or Praying?
How many times have you been lost in prayer? I do not mean lost in ecstasy, emotion, and spiritual bliss. I mean lost as in you are reciting a prayer but in your mind, you are contemplating what to cook for…
WWJD: The John 8 Test
Whenever I start to feel high and mighty about my faith and my Catholicism, I use the John 8 Test. This passage from John, chapter 8, is the “He who is without sin…” Bible story. I used to think was…
Dogmas: Road Signs of Our Faith
Lots of people can’t spell dogma because they think it’s a four-letter word. When the word is mentioned, conversation stops. Tempers flare. Moods become icy. Why do words like “dogma” and “dogmatic” carry such a negative connotation? And, more importantly,…