This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by Doug Taylor-Weiss. Nicodemus “Except a man be born […]
General
The Time is Short
I know it is customary during the Lenten Season for us to start reflecting on the great victories we will experience on Easter Sunday: the victory over sin and death; the victory over the enemy of this world; the victory over pain and sickness, heartache and fear, everything that would rob us of the joy of life. After all, Christ […]
How to Respond When You Meet Suffering
In 2005 while undergoing chemotherapy, I was sitting in an uncomfortable recliner on the sixth floor of the medical facility. An IV dripped poison into my veins that would simultaneously cure me of the cancer in my body, and wreak havoc on it, sending waves of nausea, chills, malaise. The concoction did not discriminate between healthy and cancer cells. It […]
Way of the Cross
This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by Doug Taylor-Weiss. Way of the […]
Hope for a Little Fear
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13) What has happened to the hope of our generation? Can we honestly say this current generation lives with a collective sense of hope about the future? It might be important for […]
The Selfie Culture
“Once we take our eyes away from ourselves—from our interests, from our own rights, privileges, ambitions—then we will become clear to see Jesus around us.” (Saint Teresa of Calcutta) Have you fallen victim to the selfie culture? Well, I have! Not necessarily pictures of me all the time. More often pictures of my adorable and talented grandchildren, wonderful vacation spots, great restaurants, fun […]
Courage in the Christian and Priestly Life
Stained glass window at the Melkite Catholic Annunciation Cathedral in Roslindale depicting Christ the King with the regalia of a Byzantine emperor.
(January 2009 photo by John Stephen Dwyer [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)
Two weeks ago I had the joy to preach the annual five-day retreat for Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where 25 years ago this year I began my formation for the priesthood. It was an opportunity to express my thanks to the 150 men preparing there for the priesthood there for their courageous witness in faithfully following God’s […]
Earthen Vessels
The Light is Hidden, But Never Extinguished Many of us might remember the great battle in the Book of Judges between the Midianites and Gideon’s Israelite forces. Gideon had instructed his soldiers to each carry a trumpet and a clay jar with a torch in it. “And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of […]
God and the Coronavirus
"Christ the Consolator" (detail) by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834-1890) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
How many times have you heard people say, “If God really exists, why does He let people get cancer or brain tumors?” Or, “If there really is a God, why does He allow wars and famine?” Or, “Where is God when we need Him most?” Well it occurred to me during this time of the world-wide, coronavirus pandemic called Covid-19, […]