Over a year ago, Matt Swaim began something that transformed my use of social media. He called it a #gratefultweet. The idea is that you begin your day on social media (that hashtag is specifically for Twitter) with a moment…
Beginning with Gratitude
Facebook Evangelization
One day not long ago, my somewhat agnostic mother posted on Facebook that she was tired of people who touted that they are super-religious and holy sharing pictures and memes of Jesus and religious things and then turning around and…
Social Media’s Impact on the Boston Marathon Tragedy
During my radio segment on last Wednesday’s episode of the Son Rise Morning Show with Brian Patrick, my conversation with Brian took an interesting spin on the recent Boston Marathon tragedy and its aftermath. At the time, we were still waiting…
The $100 Tomato
Every year since the kids were small we’ve planted the most pathetic garden you’ve ever seen. Each spring I say, “This is the year I start my garden from seeds”, but time slips away and the next thing I know…
To Follow (or Not to Follow) Your Heart
Our hearts burn within us, especially when we are young. God did not make us emotionless robots, but creatures of intense feeling and passion. There is a reason that most of the songs on the radio are songs about love…
No, Not a Wedding–A Eucharistic Procession
“What is this, some kind of wedding?” The question jolted me into the role of evangelist. I’d been standing near the edge of a large crowd of people praying and participating in a Eucharistic procession, pushing my infant son back…
No One To Blame But Ourselves
Last Sunday while I was at Mass, I had a very sobering experience. After receiving holy communion and walking silently back to my seat, I knelt down to spiritually reflect on the sacrament of communion that I had just received….
Spirit Who?
We sometimes hear this phrase in preaching and/or teaching about the Church: “The fullness of the Spirit.” For me that’s a cue to the life-changing events that set my life onto a path that I never intended. That phrase makes…
On Haters and the Passion
When I first had the idea of doing a New Evangelizers blog series using Jesus and the Holy Family as examples to fight the Five Wounds of Secularization (Busyness, Consumerism/Materialism, Violence/Revenge, Individualism, and Entitlement), I thought Violence/Revenge would be the…
Do NOT Follow Your Heart
It’s the dogma of our curent culture: follow your heart. It’s such a part of who we think we are, of how we think we should make decisions, of what we strive to reach, that we’ve accepted it as capital-t True. But…