“Do all your work in love.” (1 Cor. 16: 14) “God, what does success look like to you in this situation?” I don’t know where I read this phrase, but I copied it on a sticky note and stuck it…
Redefining Success
Tradition and “That”
Can you imagine a culture and circumstances that might compel a person to exclaim: “If that happens, it’s the end of our faith”? What might the “that” be? If you’re scratching your head, coming up with a blank–then good. Here’s…
Of Saints and Souls
It’s not often that God gives a glimpse of what awaits us in the afterlife. By pondering the lives of the saints and even the holy souls, we can gain a clearer understanding. We should not aspire to be mediocre…
The Hardest Work I Do: Evangelizing in My Home
Being on-fire for my faith is one thing when I’m out in public. Those people out there, after all, don’t see me first thing in the morning, before I’ve had my coffee or eased into the reality of a new…
Shepherds
There were about two minutes left in the Olympic quarterfinal basketball game between Argentina and the United States. The U.S. team was up by more than twenty points and the game was well under hand. I was watching while preparing…
Generosity’s Rules
We post moderns have many curiosities about the way we think and do things. For instance, some of us believe that a place for everything and everything in its place is a great way to live. It makes things neat…
A Little Epiphany
Over the years as I’ve studied the Bible, I along with others in Bible Study group have queried the idea, “Why didn’t the Israelites of the Old Testament get it? And if they had where would be be today?” Recently…
Not Peace but the Sword
Sunday Readings for August 14, 2016 the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time One of the themes of Pope Francis at World Youth Day 2013 was to “shake things up.” This is quite different from the advice I was given as…
Christ the Teacher and the Accuracy of the Gospels
Some people have trouble accepting the accuracy of the Gospels. Even if we accept that some of the New Testament was written just 20 to 30 years after the Resurrection, that’s still 20 or 30 years. That’s a lot of…
Doing what is right even when it is difficult
Anyone who has tried to be good discovers quite quickly that goodness can be difficult. The thing that is right is not always the same as the thing that is easy: doing what is right will sometimes mean doing difficult…