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….
No One To Blame But Ourselves
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…
The Reward of the Cross
And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27, KJV) Imagine you are applying for a job. You’ve gotten through the interview process and are now negotiating your contract. Everything you’ve heard…
Evangelization IS Action
Catholics are not big on evangelization. When I speak to groups I work with about this topic, even in passing, they are uncomfortable. The word is too close to “evangelical,” I am told. Sounds like we are going to go…
Lasagna Ministry
Comfort food is usually described as food with a high sugar or carbohydrate content, and which gives a sense of well-being. Maybe it’s because I’m a food-loving Italian, but my own definition of comfort food has a broader definition. To…
Finding (and Sharing) Your Faith
The vowed religious at the wedding In between the awkwardly drunken apology—”Father, nothing bad happening over here!”—and the even more awkwardly inappropriate woman’s misplaced flirting, I can understand why most priests I know prefer to stay away from wedding receptions….
What’s Your Spiritual Potential?
What has God called you to do in life? Have you reached your spiritual potential yet? How do we know who we’re supposed to become and who God wants us to be? These are some of the most common (and…
Jesus, I Trust in You
Last month when we were together we talked a bit about how important it is to trust in God, and where trusting Him can take us, if we but dare to go. Yes, we must trust with our daily lives,…