“It is finished.” Those are Jesus’ last words on the Cross and they are a mic drop in modern parlance, because when Jesus, the Son of God dies and pays the price that we couldn’t pay on our own, then there is noting left to say. It’s final. It’s irrevocable. It’s supreme. No one can … Read more
Why does God let bad things happen? “God allowed it to happen so that good might come of it.” I have heard this rationalization many times and as one who has experienced the deep injustice of a malicious act – my mother was murdered nearly forty years ago – I feel I have a claim … Read more
Genesis 22, also known as the Testing of Abraham, gives us great foreshadowing of Jesus in the obedient son Isaac. Although there is a point where Abraham’s “only son” is spared and God the Father’s only begotten Son is not, the foreshadowing of Jesus continues by shifting to the ram caught in the thicket. The … Read more
The problem of evil is an argument presented against the claims of Christianity, namely that God exists and that God is good. In condensed form it goes like this: How can a good god exist if there is evil or else he must be an evil god? We might easily ask the inverse. How can … Read more
How many times has my rosary become knotted while resting unattended in my pocket? It always strikes me as a meaningful warning of the complications I wind through my own negligence and inattentiveness to prayer. Had I stopped to remove the rosary and use it on occasion, I imagine that it would be less likely … Read more
This whole interaction between God and Man, throughout all of scripture, with God walking with Adam in the garden in Eden, with God speaking to Moses through a burning bush, with God’s power present in to the Israelites in a pillar of fire and smoke, with God speaking like a whisper in the wind to … Read more
There is a decent parallel between Saint John Boso’s goodnight talk on the Two Pillars and Saint Therese of Avila’s Interior Mansions, which reinforces the point of view that the story is a parable. In this case, the moral of the story would be to anchor one’s spiritual life to the Eucharist and Mary. What … Read more
Losing, searching and discovering Jesus as a child parallels the Crucifixion, burial, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus as an adult. Looking at the stories in the first two chapters of Luke in the order given we can see that they all are about prophecy and fulfillment. The first chapter is about announcing the births of … Read more
I have often thought, however unintentional and coincidental, that the image of the super hero caught between daily and heroic garb, such as Klark Kent revealing Superman, has striking similarities to the image of Jesus exposing His Sacred Heart. In both images we see the true passion of the man beneath a veiled exterior. Both … Read more
Saint John tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). While he tells us this so that we are enabled to discern who belongs to God, we can also learn something of the nature of God. I’m going to do something that is often frowned upon in scripture interpretation; I’m going to apply a … Read more
Prevenient Grace, which term the priest spoke today during the prayer over the offerings, is the same as Preventing Grace, and in this instance, relates to the singular grace that Mary received in being conceived without original sin. Prevenient or Preventing Grace is that grace which God gives without the consent or cooperation of man … Read more
It has been called (( CCC 1332-1338 )), Bread of Angels, Bread from Heaven, The Breaking of Bread, The Lord’s Supper, Wedding Feast of the Lamb, Memorial, Sacrifice of Praise, Spiritual Sacrifice, Pure- Holy- Perfect- and Acceptable Sacrifice, Holy Mass, Holy Eucharist, Holy and Divine Liturgy, Holy Communion, True Presence, Most Blessed Sacrament, Sacrament of … Read more
The degree to which we receive Christ, His mission, His word, His covenant, His peace and His command is important since our commitment to Him will determine our actions. That is, what we say should be the same as what we do. There are four ways to respond to Christ. Two of them are mentioned … Read more
The corporal works of mercy are expressed in the gospels in the section titled Judgment of the Nations (Matthew 25:31-36). Jesus explained the final judgment in what is often referred to as a parable but which is closer to a metaphor. The Spiritual works of mercy are like the Corporal works but they attend to … Read more
Mustard seed Q. The mustard seed is not he smallest of all seeds nor is it the smallest of the seeds in Palestine. Similarly, the mustard bush is not he largest of bushes nor is it the largest of bushes in Palestine. So why would Jesus use these phrases, “smallest of seeds” and “largest of … Read more
Today’s Gospel reading from Mark 2:1-12 is the breakthrough story of the paralytic, whose friends, seeing that the immense popularity of Jesus prevents access to Him, open up the roof of the house where Jesus is staying and lower the child to Him. Upon seeing this extraordinary act Jesus is moved to heal the paralytic. … Read more
Indy movies are about fun. They are not intended to catechize but a good catechist will make use of any pop culture experience to explain the faith. Jesus did this with parables, using archetypes of people from various vocations; vineyard owners and workers, Samaritans and priests, fathers and children, women and men, etc. Saints have … Read more
As a writer, I enjoy a good parallel in sentence structure and between two subjects in a paragraph, and when used as a motif throughout a work. Sometimes I am struck by a parallel I would not have considered, such as the one that the Franciscans draw in their short Way of the Cross on … Read more
John 2:1-11 When did it happen; at what point did the water turn to wine? There are no active words from Jesus calling the water wine. The waiters followed his instructions, filling the jars to the brim. They would have seen, and smelled the effervescence of wine had the change taken place immediately. Jesus then … Read more
The Luminous Mysteries each have a distinct way of pointing to Christ as the Messiah. Declaration at Jesus’ baptism, transformation at the Cana wedding feast, proclamation at all of Jesus’ discourses, transfiguration on the mount and transubstantiation at the institution of the Eucharist, each reveal, in varying ways, that Jesus is the Christ and the … Read more
John 2:1-11 – The wedding feast at Cana – presents us with the only recounting of Jesus’ first public miracle, which leaves the reader to ponder apparent gaps that might otherwise have been filled in by harmonizing with Mathew, Mark and Luke. The first two lines establish the setting; it’s the third day of the … Read more
“Indeed, ‘interpretation’ can apply whether the story is a dream from God or a parable of Bosco’s invention… He enjoyed creating mystery, which kept people involved and aided them to contemplate holy things, conjecturing what they mean and how best to live out their morals, and simply filled them with wonder. “ The following is … Read more
One of the major criticisms offered by modern scholars examining early grail literature is that the grail was not originally titled as the Holy Grail and so therefore is properly understood simply as a cup, and just as a cup can be filled with anything so too the meaning of the Holy Grail can be … Read more
On December 29, 2010, in his general audience Pope Benedict catechized on the seven spiritual weapons which Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463). They are concise and easy to recall, and since there are seven it makes it convenient to contemplate one each day as a guide to daily sanctification. These notes are contained in her one … Read more
Last year in April the Vatican Information Service, the official daily news bulletin service of the Vatican, announced the opening of its online blog. The blog is searchable and contains post data from as far back as 1999! VIS NOW HAS ITS OWN BLOG VATICAN CITY, 12 APR 2010 (VIS) – As of the morning … Read more
Almost a year ago the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments completed the English translation of the Roman Missal and immediately Pope Benedict XVII gathered our attention to a new task; that of “preparing for the reception of the new translation by clergy and lay faithful”. Sources inform me that preparation … Read more
On Jan 14th Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congrgation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate decrees for sainthood and beatification. Among the pending beatified is – Venerable Servant of God John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), Polish Supreme Pontiff (1920-2005). What is notable about the company John Paul II is joined by is that his … Read more
This is a fantastic portrait that seems to have gone otherwise unnoticed. What a profound resemblance to the images of St. John Bosco’s parable of the Two Pillars (1862) was shown to the public at the Piazza della Spagna in Rome on Wednesday December 8th 2010! Pope Benedict XVI made the short pilgrimage to the … Read more
The present cannon law permits the reception of Holy Communion under both species or by bread species alone and also the wine species alone where necessary… The main concern for most Catholic Celiacs receiving the wine species only is to be sure to receive from a cup that has not been commingled with the bread species, either directly by the priest through intentional rite of commingling (Commixtion), intinction (not in ordinary practice today), or indirectly by the laity who receiving both species unintentionally transfer crumbs or residue.[…]
Spiritual consolation is like an affirmation of love. It’s similar to showing or telling someone, “I love you.” The only difference is[…]
The reason the masters works endure is because the subject satisfied deep desires of the soul… “Beauty, whether that of the natural universe or that expressed in art,… can become a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God.”[…]
My Translation of Helinandus’ “Gradale” Text: During this time (117 – 719) (( implied by context of the preceding entry I presume )) a hermit in Britain was shown a miraculous vision by an angel, a vision of the noble [Saint (( some texts have the word Sancto which means saint ))] Joseph (of Arimathea) … Read more
Modernists say that faith is a foolish blind leap but theologians say that faith is a contemplated and certain leap. We both agree that faith is a leap but we disagree that faith is blind and foolish. Consider a man sitting in a chair. He is certain that the chair is[…]
In the famous song Auld Lang Syne, which is about the good old days, the first line asks the question, “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?” But the question is really would that be proper to forget those we’ve met long ago? And the song answers that question by rousing us … Read more
…as the sun burns itself out to light a world, so does everything – man included – become good by doing good to others[…]
Although the gift was now rewrapped and it was again hidden from sight, it was never far from his mind what he had done. Not only had he robbed himself of the joy of opening this gift on Christmas but he had robbed his family of the joy of seeing him open it too… How he wished that he could turn back time and get a second chance at saving this surprise.[…]
…it’s the few yard gains hard fought for that have won many a game. And our spiritual enemies too know that they have conquered souls and brought them to ruin by wearing down the faithful. That’s why it’s extremely important to stay vigilant and never to loose heart for the fight.[…]
Regarding the Second Joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary, I often wonder about Mary’s greeting, what she said, how far off she was etc… I imagine the words of Mary’s greeting to be the common Hebrew greeting, “Shalom!”[…]
We seldom think about miracles where appearances remain constant such as the sun standing still for Joshua and the Israelites (Josh 10:12-14) or a bush burning but is not consumed by the fire (Ex 3:1-3)… The Eucharist is a constant miracle in several ways…
The theory of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming has been accused of being a much exploited neo-pagan myth. The problem is that the myth issue eclipses our Christian duty as stewards of the Earth. In my humble opinion, just because there is evidence to justify flushing global warming down the drain doesn’t mean we should let stewardship drown with it. The fact that the Vatican recently appears to be truly concerned about global warming should not detract from the fact that it has always preached stewardship.[…]
One interesting observation concerning the miracle at the wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-11) is the change in Mary’s voice from passive to active. When she speaks to Jesus about the wine running out she does not ask a direct question. She does not ask for a miracle. Contrast Mary in this scene against those … Read more
Rubrics ((What is a rubric? Rubrics are instructions and rules (laws really) that are inserted into the Breviary and Missal to guide bishops, priests or deacons in the Eucharistic liturgy, the administration of sacraments and sacramentals, and the preaching of the Word of God. Literally rubrica means red earth, specifically it is that red earth … Read more
What a fantastic and often underestimated gift the Lectionary is! Each day the Lectionary juxtaposes readings from Moses and the Prophets with the Gospels in order that we may hear Christ’s messianic mission pronounced clearly. Each time I read the daily readings I consider what purpose the Church had in mind and often I find … Read more
“…Hence it is important to avoid the secularisation of clergy and the ‘clericalisation’ of the laity”[…]
So I think that this idea has merit… that the Apostles bore and raised the Church as Mary bore and raised Jesus. That brings up the question, when was the Church conceived rather than born or instituted (Jesus instituted the Church at His Ascension Mat 28:18-20)? It may be that the Church was announced at the Transfiguration, conceived at the Last Supper, labored for at the Crucifixion and born at the Resurrection. Indeed, as scripture says, this child was born quickly[…]
Yet I can’t help but consider that it is because goodness itself (God) entered history by becoming man, suffering, dying and rising, that evil has any limit at all. It seems to me that the greatest evil that can be done has indeed been done to God. It is precisely because of the perfect goodness of God that evil has its limit.[…]
Jesus first instructs the workers to fill jars with water. And here is where every Christian journey begins, with instruction and the waters of baptism. The baptismal waters are just a beginning because the water must be turned to wine before the head waiter approves. In a sense the head waiter is like God the Father who at His son’s baptism declares, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” Similarly, the head waiter approves of the wine in an extraordinary way[…]
Moving deeper toward the dark center of this place I saw many, many hundreds of thousands of people with snakes burrowing through their bodies, moving in and out of their flesh like worms in viscous mud. The people there stood nearly catatonic, not dancing at all but still as if completely given over to the movements of the serpents. The people’s heads were turned upward and their mouths open as if dry from thirst. But no water was given them.[…]
At once I am aware that the workshop is Joseph’s but also metaphorically the workshop of the Father in heaven. We get there instantly, and the Child Jesus explains, “We build many things here, my father and I.” I am aware that this means also that He and His Devine Father made all things. I notice a stain on a length of wood and Jesus responds, “Yes, it is my blood.[…]
But this wound is different than the ordinary kind. It is a sign of contradiction in every sense of the phrase. First, it is a contradiction in the way that the cross of the crucifix is visually a contradiction, having a horizontal line that intersects a vertical line. The moment that the phrase “delightful wound” crosses the mind it intersects the heart with the enigmatic question, “what (or who) is this?” Second[…]