Upbuild, Encourage, and Console: On Becoming a More Prophetic Church

I have a personal motto, one that unfortunately I don’t always follow: don’t read the comments! I am referring to the comments that often accompany posts on Facebook, or blogs, or other social media. My reason for avoiding them is to avoid t … [Read more...]

There but for the Grace of God

“O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling.” Exultet One of the four Americans mentioned by Pope Francis in his address to the joint session of Congress on September 15, 2015 was Thomas Merton. Thomas Mer … [Read more...]

On Becoming A Joyful People

In Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis expresses his desire for spirit-filled evangelizers, ones who are full of “fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction,” people who are eager to enter into an eva … [Read more...]

Stir into Flame: A Response to the Survey Among Recently Ordained Priests

Saint Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy is particularly encouraging to young priests. Being a young priest, I can relate to Timothy and his vocation to shepherd the people of God in the midst of challenging circumstances. Paul writes to e … [Read more...]

Reality, Grief, and Transformation

Lessons from Paul’s Letters to the Church at Corinth

Nearly two millennia ago, Paul founded a Christian community in Corinth, a port city characterized by all the diversity and rough-and-tumble usually associated with busy transport hubs. He had spent eighteen months there working to mold a … [Read more...]

Well Directed — Lessons Learned
from Saint Paul

The Importance of Spiritual Direction in the Ministry and Mission of Evangelization in Light of the Life and Ministry of the Apostle Paul

We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may … [Read more...]

Aquinas as Biblical Exegete

His Interpretation of Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh”

No doubt Thomas Aquinas is most famous as a systematic theologian who made great use of philosophical sources such as Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Nevertheless, when Aquinas first taught at the University of Paris, he held the title of Magister … [Read more...]

Late Fall Reading

What Does It Mean to Be Catholic? by Jack Mulder, Jr. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015). Reviewed by Dr. Rick Janet. The Heart of the Diaconate: Communion with the Servant Mysteries of Christ by James K … [Read more...]

Spring Reading for April 2016

What Would Pope Francis Do? By Sean Salai, S.J. (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Press, 2016), 144 pages; $14.95. Reviewed by David Paternostro, S.J. Paul: Windows on His Thought and His World. By Maria Pascuzzi; (Winona, MN: Anselm … [Read more...]

Christ Is the Fulfillment of the Law

The Holy Law Is Not an End in Itself

The core teaching in Pope Francis’s homily on October 13th is summarized in the following conclusion: Do I believe in Jesus Christ, in Jesus, in what he did: He died, rose again, and the story ended there. Do I think that the journey c … [Read more...]

Lent: A Time for Conversion

Each and every day, we have the opportunity to be converted, to draw closer to Christ, and to better, and to more fully understand, our Christian responsibility to complete Jesus’ work in our world.   Many years ago, while walking with a … [Read more...]

Grace and Reason According to St. Paul and St. Thomas

...the world we live in is overwhelmingly irrational. Our popular discourse doesn’t make any sense at all. As Catholics, we need to understand what our faith teaches about this irrationality. We need to look to Scripture and t … [Read more...]

Combating the Contraceptive Understanding of Celibacy

On the one hand, we must appreciate how sex is holy. It might be good to say “holy” instead of “good.” Ironically, the idea that celibacy is a sacrifice treats sex as a good in the same way that a candy bar is a good. But this view belongs t … [Read more...]

Faith, Hope, and Charity

I would like to propose what I believe is the solution to a major source of misunderstanding between Catholics and Protestants on the one hand, and theologians and exegetes on the other. Christ Sleeping Through the Storm at Sea by … [Read more...]

Questions Answered

For August 2013

Is there another theory of the origin of the Synoptic Gospels besides Marcan (or "Markan") priority? How important is the ceremony in the liturgy?      Authors of the Synoptic Gospels: Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Question: Is ther … [Read more...]