A fresh blanket of snow. The quiet munching of the herd. A cat on a hay bale. It’s the perfect Sunday morning as I lead our milk cow into the barn.Continue reading
SPIRITUALITY
I Thought I was a Christian…
I thought I was a Christian, till He revealed myself to me
I protested and cried, “Lord, it cannot be.”
“Be not afraid, My child, it is necessary to see,
that to be My disciple, the truth must set you free.”Continue reading
Christian Prayer, or Mental Illness?
It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you. That’s called mental illness, if I’m not correct, hearing voices… —Joyce Behar, The View; foxnews.com
THAT was television host Joyce Behar’s conclusion to the assertion by a former White House staffer that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claims that “Jesus tells him to say things.” Continue reading
Consider It All Joy
WE do not see because we have eyes. We see because there is light. Where there is no light, the eyes sees nothing, even when fully open.Continue reading
The Storm of Our Desires
Peace Be Still, by Arnold Friberg
FROM time to time, I receive letters like these:
Please pray for me. I am so weak and my sins of the flesh, especially alcohol, strangle me.
You could simply replace alcohol with “pornography”, “lust”, “anger” or a number of other things. The fact is that many Christians today feel swamped by the desires of the flesh, and helpless to change.Continue reading
Finding True Peace in Our Times
Peace is not merely the absence of war…
Peace is “the tranquillity of order.”
—Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2304
EVEN now, even as time spins faster and faster and the pace of life demands more; even now as tensions between spouses and families increase; even now as cordial dialogue between individuals disintegrates and nations careen toward war… even now we can find true peace. Continue reading
Getting Ahead of God
FOR over three years, my wife and I have been trying to sell our farm. We’ve felt this “call” that we should move here, or move there. We’ve prayed about it and surmised that we had many valid reasons and even felt a certain “peace” about it. But still, we’ve never found a buyer (actually the buyers that have come along have been inexplicably blocked time and again) and the door of opportunity has repeatedly closed. At first, we were tempted to say, “God, why aren’t you blessing this?” But recently, we’ve realized that we’ve been asking the wrong question. It shouldn’t be, “God, please bless our discernment,” but rather, “God, what is Your will?” And then, we need to pray, listen, and above all, wait for both clarity and peace. We haven’t waited for both. And as my spiritual director has told me many times over the years, “If you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything.”Continue reading
The Cross of Loving
TO pick up one’s Cross means to empty oneself out completely for love of the other. Jesus put it another way:
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:12-13)
We are to love as Jesus loved us. In His personal mission, which was a mission for the entire world, it involved death upon a cross. But how are we who are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, priests and nuns, to love when we are not called to such a literal martyrdom? Jesus revealed this too, not only on Calvary, but each and every day as He walked among us. As St. Paul said, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…” [1](Philippians 2:5-8 How?Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | (Philippians 2:5-8 |
|---|
The Cross, the Cross!
ONE of the greatest questions I’ve faced in my personal walk with God is why I seem to change so little? “Lord, I pray every day, say the Rosary, go to Mass, have regular confession, and pour myself out in this ministry. Why, then, do I seem stuck in the same old patterns and faults that hurt me and the ones I love the most?” The answer came to me so clearly:
The Cross, the Cross!
But what is “the Cross”?Continue reading
All In
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 26th, 2017
Thursday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Liturgical texts here
IT seems to me that the world is moving faster and faster. Everything is like a whirlwind, spinning and whipping and tossing the soul about like a leaf in a hurricane. What is strange is to hear young people say they feel this too, that time is speeding up. Well, the worst danger in this present Storm is that we not only lose our peace, but let The Winds of Change blow out the flame of faith altogether. By this, I do not mean belief in God so much as one’s love and desire for Him. They are the engine and transmission that move the soul toward authentic joy. If we are not on fire for God, then where are we going?Continue reading
On How to Pray
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 11th, 2017
Wednesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial POPE ST. JOHN XXIII
Liturgical texts here
BEFORE teaching the “Our Father”, Jesus says to the Apostles:
This is how you are to pray. (Matt 6:9)
Yes, how, not necessarily what. That is, Jesus was revealing not so much the content of what to pray, but the disposition of the heart; He was not giving a specific prayer so much as showing us how, as God’s children, to approach Him. For just a couple verses earlier, Jesus said, “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.” [1]Matt 6:7 Rather…Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Matt 6:7 |
|---|
The Daily Cross
This meditation continues to build upon the previous writings: Understanding The Cross and Participating in Jesus…
WHILE polarization and divisions continue to widen in the world, and controversy and confusion billow through the Church (like the “smoke of satan”)… I hear two words from Jesus right now for my readers: “Be faithful.” Yes, try to live these words each moment today in the face of temptation, demands, opportunities for selflessness, obedience, persecution, etc. and one will quickly discover that just being faithful with what one has is enough of a daily challenge.
Indeed, it is the daily cross.Continue reading
Going Into the Deep
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for September 7th, 2017
Thursday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Liturgical texts here
WHEN Jesus speaks to the crowds, he does so in the shallows of the lake. There, He speaks to them at their level, in parables, in simplicity. For He knows that many are only curious, seeking the sensational, following at a distance…. But when Jesus desires to call the Apostles to Himself, He asks them to put out “into the deep.”Continue reading
Afraid of the Call
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for September 5th, 2017
Sunday & Tuesday
of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Liturgical texts here
ST. Augustine once said, “Lord, make me pure, but not yet!”
He betrayed a common fear among believers and unbelievers alike: that being a follower of Jesus means having to forego earthly joys; that it is ultimately a call into suffering, deprivation, and pain on this earth; to mortification of the flesh, annihilation of the will, and rejection of pleasure. After all, in last Sunday’s readings, we heard St. Paul say, “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” [1]cf. Rom 12:1 and Jesus say:Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Rom 12:1 |
|---|
Summoned to the Gates
My character “Brother Tarsus” from Arcātheos
THIS week, I am rejoining my companions in the realm of Lumenorus at Arcātheos as “Brother Tarsus”. It is a Catholic boys camp situated at the base of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and is unlike any boys camp I’ve ever seen.Continue reading
Seeking the Beloved
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for July 22nd, 2017
Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of St. Mary Magdalene
Liturgical texts here
IT is always beneath the surface, calling, beckoning, stirring, and leaving me utterly restless. It is the invitation to union with God. It leaves me restless because I know that I have not yet taken the plunge “into the deep”. I love God, but not yet with my whole heart, soul, and strength. And yet, this is what I am made for, and so… I am restless, until I rest in Him.Continue reading
Divine Encounters
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for July 19th, 2017
Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Liturgical texts here
THERE are times during the Christian journey, like Moses in today’s first reading, that you will walk through a spiritual desert, when everything seems dry, the surroundings desolate, and the soul almost dead. It is a time of testing of one’s faith and trust in God. St. Teresa of Calcutta knew it well. Continue reading
The Old Man
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for June 5th, 2017
Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Boniface
Liturgical texts here
THE ancient Romans never lacked the most brutal of punishments for criminals. Flogging and crucifixion were among their more notorious cruelties. But there is another… that of binding a corpse to the back of a convicted murderer. Under penalty of death, no one was allowed to remove it. And thus, the condemned criminal would eventually become infected and die.Continue reading
The Unforeseeable Fruit of Abandonment
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for June 3rd, 2017
Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions
Liturgical texts here
IT rarely seems that any good can come of suffering, especially in the midst of it. Moreover, there are times when, according to our own reasoning, the path that we’ve set forward would bring about the most good. “If I get this job, then… if I am physically healed, then… if I go there, then….” Continue reading
Peace in Hardships
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 16th, 2017
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Liturgical texts here
SAINT Seraphim of Sarov once said, “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you, thousands will be saved.” Maybe this is another reason why the world remains unmoved by Christians today: we too are restless, worldly, fearful, or unhappy. But in today’s Mass readings, Jesus and St. Paul provide the key to becoming truly peaceful men and women.Continue reading
On False Humility
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 15th, 2017
Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Opt. Memorial of St. Isidore
Liturgical texts here
THERE was a moment while preaching at a conference recently that I felt a slight self-satisfaction in what I was doing “for the Lord.” That night, I reflected on my words and impulses. I felt shame and horror that I might have, in even a subtle way, attempted to steal a single ray of God’s glory—a worm trying to wear the King’s Crown. I thought about St. Pio’s sage advice as I repented of my ego:Continue reading
Prayer Slows the World Down
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for April 29th, 2017
Saturday of the Second Week of Easter
Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena
Liturgical texts here
IF time feels as if it is speeding up, prayer is what will “slow” it down.
God First
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for April 27th, 2017
Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
Liturgical texts here
I don’t think it’s just me. I hear it from both young and old: time seems to be speeding up. And with it, there is a sense some days as if one is hanging on by the fingernails to the edge of a whirling merry-go-round. In the words of Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe:
Hymn to the Divine Will
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for March 11th, 2017
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Liturgical texts here
WHENEVER I have debated with atheists, I find that there is almost always an underlying judgment: Christians are judgmental prigs. Actually, it was a concern that Pope Benedict once expressed—that we might be putting the wrong foot foward:
The Heart of God
The Heart of Jesus Christ, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta; R. Mulata (20th century)
WHAT you are about to read has the potential to not only set women, but in particular, men free from undue burden, and radically change the course of your life. That’s the power of God’s Word…
The Season of Joy
I like to call Lent the “season of joy.” That might seem odd given that we mark these days with ashes, fasting, reflection on the sorrowful Passion of Jesus, and of course, our own sacrifices and penances… But that’s precisely why Lent can and should become a season of joy for every Christian—and not just “at Easter.” The reason is this: the more we empty our hearts of “self” and all those idols that we’ve erected (which we imagine will bring us happiness)… the more room there is for God. And the more God lives in me, the more alive I am… the more I become like Him, who is Joy and Love itself.
Come Away With Me
While writing about the Storm of Fear, Temptation, Division, and Confusion recently, the writing below was lingering in the back of my mind. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to the Apostles, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” [1]Mark 6:31 There is so much happening, so fast in our world as we approach the Eye of the Storm, that we risk getting disoriented and “lost” if we don’t heed our Master’s words… and enter into the solitude of prayer where He can, as the Psalmist says, give “me repose beside restful waters”.
First published April 28th, 2015…
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Mark 6:31 |
|---|
A Matter of the Heart
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Monday, January 30th, 2017
Liturgical texts here
A monk praying; photo by Tony O’Brien, Christ in the Desert Monastery
THE Lord has put many things on my heart to write you in just the past few days. Again, there is a certain sense that time is of the essence. Since God is in eternity, I know this sense of urgency, then, is merely a nudge to wake us up, to stir us again to vigilance and Christ’s perennial words to “watch and pray.” Many of us do a fairly thorough job of watching… but if we do not also pray, things will go badly, very badly in these times (see Hell Unleashed). For what is needed most at this hour is not knowledge so much as divine wisdom. And this, dear friends, is a matter of the heart.
The Storm of Temptation
Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images
TEMPTATION is as old as human history. But what is new about temptation in our times is that sin has never been so accessible, so pervasive, and so acceptable. It could rightly be said that there is a veritable deluge of impurity sweeping through the world. And this has a profound effect upon us in three ways. One, is that it attacks the innocence of the soul just to be exposed to the most egregious evils; second, the constant near occasion of sin leads to weariness; and thirdly, the frequent fall of the Christian into these sins, even venial, begins to whittle away contentment and his or her confidence in God leading to anxiety, discouragement, and depression, thereby obscuring the joyful counter-witness of the Christian in the world.
Why Faith?
Artist Unknown
For by grace you have been saved
through faith… (Eph 2:8)
HAVE you ever wondered why it is through “faith” that we are saved? Why doesn’t Jesus just appear to the world announcing that He has reconciled us to the Father, and call us to repent? Why does He often seem so distant, so untouchable, intangible, such that we sometimes have to wrestle with doubts? Why doesn’t He walk among us again, producing many miracles and letting us look into His eyes of love?
The Storm of Fear
IT can be almost fruitless to speak of how to battle against the storms of temptation, division, confusion, oppression, and such unless we have an unshakable confidence in God’s love for us. That is the context for not only this discussion, but for the entire Gospel.
Coming Through the Storm
Fort Lauderdale Airport aftermath… when will the madness end? Courtesy nydailynews.com
THERE has been a great deal of attention on this website to the exterior dimensions of the Storm that has descended upon the world… a Storm that has been in the making for centuries, if not millenia. However, what is most important is being aware of the interior aspects of the Storm that are raging in many souls that are becoming more evident by the day: the storm surge of temptation, the winds of division, the rainfall of errors, the roar of oppression, and so forth. Nearly every red-blooded male I encounter these days is struggling against pornography. Families and marriages everywhere are being torn asunder by divisions and fighting. Errors and confusion are spreading regarding moral absolutes and the nature of authentic love… Few, it seems, realize what is happening, and it can be explained in one simple Scripture:
Prisoner of Love
“Baby Jesus” by Deborah Woodall
HE comes to us as a baby… gently, quietly, helplessly. He does not arrive with a retinue of guards or with an overwhelming apparition. He comes as an infant, his hands and feet powerless to hurt anyone. He comes as if to say,
I have not come to condemn you, but to give you life.
A baby. A prisoner of love.
The Tiger in the Cage
The following meditation is based on today’s second Mass reading of the first day of Advent 2016. In order to be an effective player in the Counter-Revolution, we must first have a real revolution of the heart…
I am like a tiger in a cage.
Through Baptism, Jesus has thrown open the door of my prison and set me free… and yet, I find myself pacing back and forth in the same rut of sin. The door is open, but I do not run headlong into the Wilderness of Freedom… the plains of joy, the mountains of wisdom, the waters of refreshment… I can see them in the distance, and yet I remain a prisoner of my own accord. Why? Why don’t I run? Why am I hesitating? Why do I stay in this shallow rut of sin, of dirt, bones, and waste, pacing back and forth, back and forth?
Why?
Is It Too Late for Me?
Pope Francis Closes the “Door of Mercy”, Rome, Nov. 20th, 2016,
Photo by Tiziana Fabi/ AFP POOL / AFP
THE “Door of Mercy” has closed. All across the world, the special plenary indulgence offered at cathedrals, basilicas and other designated places, has expired. But what about the mercy of God in this “time of mercy” in which we are living? Is it too late? A reader put it this way:
The Great Dance
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Friday, November 18th, 2016
Memorial of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
Liturgical texts here
I want to tell you a secret. But it’s really not a secret at all because it’s in the wide open. And it is this: the source and wellspring of your happiness is the will of God. Would you agree that, if God’s Kingdom reigned in your home and your heart, you would be happy, that there would be peace and harmony? The coming of God’s Kingdom, dear reader, is synonymous with the welcoming of His will. In truth, we pray for it every day:
Come Down Quickly!
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Tuesday, November 15th, 2016
Memorial of St. Albert the Great
Liturgical texts here
WHEN Jesus passes by Zacchaeus, He not only tells him to come down from his tree, but Jesus says: Come down quickly! Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, one that few of us exercise perfectly. But when it comes to pursuing God, we should be impatient! We should never hesitate to follow Him, to run toward Him, to assail Him with a thousand tears and prayers. After all, this is what lovers do…
With All Prayer
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Thursday, October 27th, 2016
Liturgical texts here
St. John Paul II on a prayer walk near Edmonton, Alberta
(Arturo Mari; The Canadian Press)
IT came to me a few years ago, as clear as a flash of lightning: it will only be by God’s grace that His children will pass through this valley of the shadow of death. It is only through prayer, which draws down these graces, that the Church will safely navigate the treacherous seas that are swelling all around her. That is to say that all our own scheming, survivalist instincts, ingenuity and preparations—if undertaken without the guidance of divine wisdom—will fall tragically short in the days to come. For God is stripping His Church at this hour, stripping her of her self-assurance and those pillars of complacency and false security upon which she has been leaning.
Raise Your Sails (Preparing for Chastisement)
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. (Acts 2:1-2)
THROUGHOUT salvation history, God has not only used the wind in his divine action, but He Himself comes like the wind (cf. Jn 3:8). The Greek word pneuma as well as the Hebrew ruah means both “wind” and “spirit.” God comes as a wind to empower, purify, or procure judgment (see The Winds of Change).
The Litany of Humility
Litany of Humility
by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val
(1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
Keeping One's Eyes on the Kingdom
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Thursday, August 4th, 2016
Memorial of St. Jean Vianney, Priest
Liturgical texts here
EVERY day, I receive an email from someone who is upset by something Pope Francis has recently said. Every day. People aren’t sure how to cope with the constant flow of papal statements and perspectives that seem at odds with his predecessors, comments that are incomplete, or in need of greater qualification or context. [1]see That Pope Francis! Part II
Footnotes
| ↑1 | see That Pope Francis! Part II |
|---|
Love Waits
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Monday, July 25th, 2016
Feast of St. James
Liturgical texts here
Love waits. When we truly love someone, or some thing, we will wait for the object of our love. But when it comes to God, to waiting for His grace, His help, His peace… for Him… most of us do not wait. We take matters into our own hands, or we despair, or become angry and impatient, or we begin to medicate our internal pain and anxiety with busyness, noise, food, alcohol, shopping… and yet, it never lasts because there is only one medication for the human heart, and that is the Lord for whom we are made.