No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (Jn 15:13) I love the saying, “People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.” As the Christmas season gives way…
Catholic Pop Culture
As I have for the last two years I shall recall any good things from the popular culture that are harmonious or helpful to Catholic culture. There were many things past year and many things coming up in 2016 that…
Mary, Mother of God
Readings for Sunday, Jan 1 the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God The mother of the messiah has been called many things in the last 2000 years –the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother. But call her “the…
The Holy Family
Readings for the Feast of the Holy Family The Passion of the Christ was the most intense movie I’ve ever seen. But there was a moment of comic relief, a flashback to a young Jesus in the back yard, building…
The Name of Mary
I’ll be honest. Before I became a Catholic, what Catholics did with Mary was a real scandal to me. Praying to her was bad enough, but when I witnessed my first May crowning, I was completely shocked. To me, the…
Ponder the Theologies of the “Lost” Baptized
Mission to places “where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel” is a…
The Deeper Meaning of Christmas
Readings for Christmas, Dec. 25, 2016 In the days of Caesar Augustus, an era of peace was established in the Mediterranean world after centuries of strife. But this peace was forged by the proud ambition of emperors and the edge…
Welcoming a Child
Then [Jesus] took a child and had him stand in front of them. He put his arms around him and said to them, “Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not…
Monseigneur Robert Hugh Benson, Novelist
A gifted novelist, essayist, and evangelizer, Robert Hugh Benson was born the youngest son of Edward White Benson and his wife Mary. Edward was an English Anglican priest. The Bensons had two other sons, Edward Frederic and Andrew Christopher. “Hugh”,…
Advent Vocabulary
One of the gifts of our Church is the way that our rituals are folded into the rhythm of life. So it is with the season of Advent. In our Liturgical practice, Advent is really the doorstep to Christmas and…