We easily see that the Church is wise in her establishment of Lent. We are sinners – selfish, carnal, and earthly-minded – and so it is no surprise that we need a season devoted to intense prayer. To expect ourselves to reach a deeper conversion otherwise is mere foolishness, like going to the Mojave to […]
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For you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen 3:19). Most everyone agrees with this sentence irrespective of their views or religious beliefs. Unless we are alive for the Second Coming, each of us must die one day. Sometimes death comes to us like an uninvited guest, terrible and blunt. Recently, I read […]
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Christians throughout the ages have undertaken strenuous journeys to shrines far and near. Early pilgrimages focused on the Holy Land, on the sites of Jesus’ life. There are records of such journeys as early as the fourth century. For example, St. Helena famously journeyed to the site of the Crucifixion. In the Middle Ages, Rome […]
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As we draw near to the feast of The Chair of St. Peter it is worth reflecting on what papal infallibility is and is not. People often think this doctrine entails that Catholics believe the pope is faultless, receives divine inspiration, or that anything he ever says is infallible. However, the First Vatican Council, which […]
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Recently, in one of my Scripture classes, we addressed the similarities and differences between St. Paul and the Greek philosophers. The philosophers of his day (Stoics and Cynics, for example) would often meet their audience in private and semi-private places and speak to them about how to live well. This included convincing them of the […]
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When I say the word morality, what do you think of? Your first thought may be of rules, duties, and obligations – dos and don’ts of what is acceptable behavior, such as those in the Ten Commandments. Some may think of morality as God putting limits on human freedom and may even see these limits […]
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Dominicans are not especially zealous in promoting the veneration of our saints, a tendency that goes all the way back to our beginnings and the cultus of St. Dominic himself. When at last the brethren approached Pope Gregory IX concerning the cause of their founder, he lectured them about their tardiness in bringing the matter […]
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Every single person is called to love. If we do not experience love, life remains incomprehensible to us. But if we do experience love, then all of life becomes charged with meaning and joy. But how are we called to love? We are called to love…like God loves. While meditating on this truth one evening […]
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“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). We Christians are no strangers to this saying of Jesus. Just as the branches separated from the vine will wither away […]
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That the twelve-year-old Jesus clearly knew the Law and the Prophets is evident in the fact that the learned men even bothered listening to the child. However, it is unlikely that they would have spent three whole days putting up with any child – no matter how cute – if all he could do was […]
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