What a beautiful surprise to find Jennifer Fulwiler (left), in her latest blog entry for the National Catholic Register, returning to the interview she did with me last year. Jennifer writes: I know that it’s right and good to pray for our enemies, but sometimes the thought of certain people brings up emotions so raw and so overwhelming that it’s a near occasion of sin to bring their faces to the forefront of our minds. We all hope that we’ll... Read more
Jorge Mario Bergoglio once risked his life to save two Jesuit priests from execution by the Argentine junta—and then, in his humility, refused to advertise his heroism. Leftist media took advantage of the future Pope Francis’s silence by smearing him with accusations of collaboration, writes Buenos Aires journalist Carlos Caso-Rosendi: [He] is a man’s man in the old way of Argentines of happier times, before vice and corruption came to us disguised as a promise that government was going to... Read more
If Blessed John Paul II was known as the “Pope of Divine Mercy,” that title now seems particularly apt for Pope Francis. Here are some beautiful observation that Jorge Mario Bergoglio made in a talk he gave in 2001, shortly after John Paul elevated him to the cardinalate: When Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?”, “his ‘Yes’ was not the result of an effort of will, it was not the fruit of a ‘decision’ made by the young man... Read more
From the Diocese of Helena comes this thoughtful reflection by Father Sean Raftis on why we pray the Stations. “Through the Stations of the Cross,” he observes, “we are at that liminal moment where Christ Jesus suffers and dies for us, for our sins and for our redemption, so that He can unlock the gates of heaven.” Read more
Hie thee to The Dawn Patrol, my blog for news on Life in Eden. Speaking dates are here; news on my studies, apostolate, and vocation are here. You can also follow me on Twitter. Read more
The following is a guest point from RUSSELL J. GRIGAITIS, O.F.S., an e-mail pal and Third Order Franciscan who was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma: I would like to ask you to join me today, March 11, in beginning to pray a novena to Blessed John Duns Scotus that I be healed from cancer [again, “I”=Russell J. Grigaitis, not Dawn–see note above. – Ed.]. There is the possibility that I might be healed because of this novena or prayers through the... Read more
I am looking forward to attending Mass today at a local parish that celebrates in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and, particularly, to taking in the silence during the Canon. Silence is the language of lovers—of heart speaking to heart, as Newman says. When you experience the joy of being face-to-face with the one you love, the experience is ineffable. There are no words. Once, after closing my eyes during the Canon of the Mass at a celebration... Read more
… to a man whose last name is Latin for “truth.” G.K. Chesterton, whom O’Keefe claims to admire, couldn’t have written an apter twist to the story of the young Alinskyite activist who boasted he was “lying to bring down a greater lie.” ACORN may well have deserved to be defunded. But Juan Vera did not deserve to lose his job because of James O’Keefe’s twisted belief that “the end justifies the means.” I hope O’Keefe learns what William Doino, Jr.,... Read more
Audio Sancto, which offers free podcasts of Catholic sermons, currently features a beautiful homily given last Sunday on healing from childhood abuse. The priest (who is not named, as Audio Sancto requires listeners to maintain priests’ anonymity so that the homilists don’t get inundated with listener questions) gives exceptionally helpful advice for those seeking spiritual healing, and particularly for those who need God’s grace to forgive their abuser. Towards the end of the homily, after giving practical advice based on... Read more
Today is the feast of the 13th-century holy woman St. Margaret of Cortona, whose journey to sanctity included suffering abuse by her stepmother and rejection by her father; loving a man who fathered her child but refused to marry her; suffering public chastisement for having a child out of wedlock; and having to support her child on her own after her lover was murdered. I initially intended to include Margaret’s powerful story in My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual... Read more
Feast of Eden
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