Archives for April 2013

May 2013 Homilies

For Sunday Liturgies and Feasts Homilies for May 2013  Jesus Ascends into Heaven 6th Sunday of Easter—May 5, 2013 Not as the World Gives Purpose: This Sunday's Gospel captures the heart of the Christian faith: "We will come to him a … [Read more...]

Attacking the Roots of Abortion

What is really required ... is to address the thought processes and motivations that prompt people to seek abortion as a solution to a personal problem that should not have occurred in the first place. Catholics, and our counterparts in … [Read more...]

The New Evangelization: The Holiness of the Church

The New Evangelization is our cooperation with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 21st century ... an evangelization foreshadowed by Vatican II, according to Popes John XXIII and Paul VI ... an evangelization whose importance became m … [Read more...]

Fifty Years Later–Vatican II’s Unfinished Business

Today, 50 years after the opening of Vatican II, the misinterpretation of one of its most salient documents, Lumen Gentium, continues to drive a number of Catholics in the United States into one of two camps, the “right” or the “le … [Read more...]

True freedom is interior

Interior freedom is gained by loving God and one’s neighbor, and by not being inordinately attached to any created thing.               Alexander Solzhenitsyn and St. Therese of Lisieux Freedom is what makes man to be man.  Freedom is wh … [Read more...]

Encouragement vs. Cynicism: An Easter Reflection

“The community of believers was of one heart and mind” (Acts 4:32)   Icon of St. Barnabas and ancient mosaic of the "Procession of Early Christian Martyrs" It has become commonplace today to spread about the faults of priests. One deve … [Read more...]

The Septuagint in the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI

In ascribing to the Septuagint a theological relevance reaching above and beyond the literal content of its Hebrew source, making it an “independent textual witness,” Benedict is drawing upon the theology of revelation that he began to dev … [Read more...]

Glorious Wounds—Christ’s and Ours

You could say that Christ’s glorious wounds are our wounds. He took our humanity to himself in the Incarnation ... Christ’s humanity is completely ours.   Central to the mystery of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ’s suffering, death, an … [Read more...]

Hand to the Plow

The religious sister’s separation from family and friends means that ... in order to “put one’s hand to the plow” (Lk 9:59-60) one may not look back ... in order to attend to the “one thing necessary.” Introduction One of the distinctiv … [Read more...]

Thank God for Pope Francis

If my assessment of Pope Francis is correct, then I believe that the Conclave of Cardinals could not have been other than divinely inspired. As I reflect upon the election of the new Pope, I cannot help but believe that it was in every … [Read more...]