But Are You Listening?

Recently, Father Mike Schmitz at Ascension Presents said in one of his videos that All unasked for advice is criticism. Wow. I’m constantly doling out the benefit of my experience to family members. Friends. The checker at the grocery store….

God’s Significant Extremes

Well, the holidays are just barely off the radar and it’s probably time for you to answer this question:  How comfortable were you in the middle of the milieu of family, gifts, celebrations?  Did you get a lot of “stuff”…

A reason, a season, a lifetime

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…