If we make the right choice — to live in trusting surrender to God, we have nothing to worry about. We have challenges and pain and bills to pay, of course. Some challenges that were once unthinkable and can be unspeakable. In it all, we believe that we are in union with it all that is beautiful and enduring. Here’s a bit from Pope Francis’s homily Sunday morning: the new things of God are not like the novelties of this... Read more
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput on the Kermit Gosnell case: The brutality in abortion is intimate, personal and permanent. It violates women, and it kills a developing human life every time — whether the venue is a “Women’s Medical Center”-style meat factory or a soothing suburban clinic. What makes the Gosnell story unique is that it should distress anyone with its details, pro-choice or pro-life, regardless of religion or politics. But of course, people need to know about an evil before... Read more
From Margaret Thatcher, via her funeral homily last week: Christianity offers no easy solutions to political and economic issues. It teaches us that we cannot achieve a compassionate society simply by passing new laws and appointing more staff to administer them. Read more
A reflection on Tuesday’s Gospel reading: are we men and women of …encouragement, enthusiastically trying to inspire others to grow in faith, to come more deeply into their friendship with Christ, inviting them and facilitating for them to use the gifts God has given them to share in the work of spreading the faith? The Church today needs … men and women who aren’t afraid to encourage to share their work, to stick up for others when others don’t think... Read more
There is something “>here that is trying to make Christianity real, in real time, in real life. Words have lost meaning. But we can re=infuse them. And we can afford to err on the side of real love. It’s more than a Neil Diamond song. It’s more than a blog or Facebook post. It begins in prayer. In surrender to the Cross. If we begin to love like that, in union with God… imagine the possibilities. We can’t really, can... Read more
This comes from Cardinal O’Malley in Boston on the first Sunday after the marathon bombing: This past week we have experienced a surge in civic awareness and sense of community. It has been inspiring to see the generous and at times heroic responses to the Patriots Day violence. Our challenge is to keep this spirit of community alive going forward. As people of faith, we must commit ourselves to the task of community building. Jesus teaches us in the Gospel... Read more
In his Regina Caeli address Sunday, Pope Francis said: Jesus wants to establish a relationship with his friends that is a reflection of His relationship with the Father, a relationship of mutual belonging in full trust, in intimate communion. To express this deep understanding, this relationship of friendship Jesus uses the image of the shepherd with his sheep: he calls them, and they know his voice, they respond to his call and follow him. How beautiful this parable is! The... Read more
How do we live faith? Where do we begin? Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix offers a prayer for us: To receive the gift of faith today, to accept the grace of hearing the voice of Jesus and responding to Him in trust, requires an intellect that is ready for contemplation. At its deepest level, the intellect is contemplative because its purpose is to seek the truth. It is not made to be ceaselessly skeptical. Faith always begins by God’s initiative, not... Read more
Eight years ago today: The new pope would say a few days later: My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history. Read more
“We believe in God who is Father, who is Son, who is Holy Spirit. We believe in Persons, and when we talk to God we talk to Persons: or I speak with the Father, or I speak with the Son, or I speak with the Holy Spirit. And this is the faith.” That was Pope Francis at Thursday morning Mass, begging us to be drawn deeper into the reality of the Trinity. “Faith is a gift that begins in our... Read more
Kathryn Lopez
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In