I grew up in the shadow of my sister who was 18 months older than me. I followed her around, copying her every preference and obeying her every request. She convinced me that her likes and dislikes, friends and fashions…
Are You a Clone?
Lenten Fasting and Feasting
Some think Lent is a time for fasting. I see it as a time of feasting. I come to this conclusion based on the story of the fig tree in Luke 13. Three years without bearing fruit. What could be…
Five Steps to Helping Your Pewmates Improve Their Spiritual Fitness
If Jesus were on Facebook, he’d be the guy who sends friend requests to everybody. This creates a thorny problem, because you end up with a Church full of horrid slackers. Weak, pathetic, “spiritually flabby” as one Ash Wednesday sermon…
Eternal Moment
The Lord our God gave the ultimate sacrifice for humankind – He was hung on a cross and experienced every real moment of that sacrifice as would any human going through the same experience. In those moments, Jesus Christ our…
Be Joyful and Shine Joyful
(I am attempting to give up waxing poetically for Lent. So here is my post, short and simple, with no poetic waxing. Promise.) Joy. It is all really so simple. It is a hit-yourself-in-the-forehead kind of simplicity. God wants us…
St. Joseph: Wonder Worker
I pray to St. Joseph every single day. Someone once said to me that St. Joseph actually had it pretty hard in his house. He sat down at the dinner table between the Incarnate Word and the Immaculate Conception; if…
Confessions of a Former Tabloid Writer
What do O.J. Simpson, the Bachelorette, Charlie Sheen, and Angeline Jolie all have in common? The tabloids love them. On the way to the grocery store checkout, one cannot help but notice headlines flashing the latest scandals. If the high…
What’s the Role of the Laity?
I was given a review copy of Catholic Laity in the Mission of the Church: Living Out Your Lay Vocation by Russell Shaw. I looked at the cover: a blob of faceless people dressed the same, doing no-skill-no-brains heavy lifting,…
Spiritual Cross Training
If you’re looking for a new way to pray, Catholic spirituality is simply brimming [overflowing!] with set prayers, specific patterns for prayer, and more. There’s the Liturgy of the Hours, the first century practice of praying the Our Father three…
Resolution in the Abstract
I am not qualified to write this article. I will freely admit that up front, lest anyone accuse me of presenting a better picture of myself than what is found in reality. But truth is truth and the truth is…