Continuing our reflection of the “Our Father,” it is now time to turn our attention to the phrase “Thy Kingdom Come.” Essentially there are two things we are praying for when we say these words. First, we are praying for…
The Lord’s Prayer, Part 3 – Thy Kingdom Come
The Cana Connection
Sunday Readings for January 17, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time In the past two weeks, the Church has celebrated the Epiphany and the Lord’s baptism. This coming Sunday we remember the Wedding Feast at Cana. What’s the connection between…
Dear Parents, YOU *ARE* a Catechist Too!
Once again, I find myself in the front of a group of 5th graders, as a catechist of a parish religious education class. And once again, I’m lauded as “knowing more” than others. I’m heralded as “being better” at this….
Rosary Riff
I pray the Rosary. I like to do the mysteries, but I’ve been doing them for a long time, and like to reflect on other themes besides the 3, oops, 4 sets that we have to choose from. So I…
Holy Mary, the World’s Most Powerful Woman
Someone unexpected was on the cover of the December 2015 issue of National Geographic: not a global political leader, nor an idol of pop culture, but the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is not every day that we see our Lord’s…
3 Wise Men and Post-Holiday Blues
I hate the end of the Christmas season! Everything appears to be so vanilla including lights, food, and people’s spirits. On January 2 I get depressed for a couple of weeks as I adjust to the new normal. Recently though…
Sharing the Heart of Pre-Evangelization
In his great teaching on evangelization in the modern world, Pope Paul VI noted the importance of the sentiments of the human heart when it comes to pre-evangelization–the critical bridge of trust and interest before the Gospel of Jesus Christ…
Baptism of the Lord
Readings for Jan 10, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord At first glance, the scene makes little sense. John’s strident call to repentance provokes an overwhelming response. People of all shapes and sizes flock to him in the…
When You Give, When You Pray, When You Fast
It is perhaps interesting to note that Christ never commands his disciples to read the Scriptures daily. Living in a culture which was largely illiterate and lacked the technology to produce books, it probably wouldn’t have done much good anyway…
Bearing Witness to the Truth
Since taking part in my first 40 Days for Life, I’ve been reflecting on the Sorrowful Mysteries — in particular, a set of Biblical meditations from Rosary Army’s Scriptural Rosary. In the Second Sorrowful Mystery meditation, we read this: “Jesus…