17° Sunday After Pentecost
..."to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children."—Luke 1:17
11
09, 2016
19
06, 2016
Is Your Marriage Valid?
I know this isn't the most romantic question on father's day, but as a spiritual father to biological fathers, I think you'll find this very encouraging by the end of the article. First, we must understand that it is God who forms the bond of a sacramental marriage when two people in freedom say "I do" and consummate the sacrament that night. Secondly, what is often called “an annulment” among Catholics is actually better described as a “declaration of nullity.” When a forlorn couple asks their diocese to investigate if they were ever married, the diocese may find real problems and declare it “null.” These problems have to be pre-existent [...]
15
11, 2015
Dominus Vobiscum
This is my homily from today, the 15th of November 2015. In the TLM calendar, it is the 6th resumed Sunday after Epiphany.
8
10, 2015
Marriage Prep and “Annulments”
The basics of annulments can teach us a lot about the beauty of marriage. The first thing to realize about an annulment is that it is not a Catholic divorce. The starting point for why divorce does not exist in the Catholic Church is simple: Jesus said: But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. ’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. ’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.—Mark 10:6-9. No man (not even a priest or bishop [...]
27
09, 2015
Wedding Homily from the Mountains
This is today's homily, the 18th Sunday after Pentecost in the TLM calendar, preached in Steamboat Springs for this new groom and bride, Keenan Fitzpatrick and Brianna Fitzpatrick (née Lawson.)
13
09, 2015
Men are the Problem. Men are the Solution.
In the 16th Sunday after Pentecost (Traditional Latin Mass Calendar) the Apostle Paul writes I bow my knees before the Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.—Eph 3. In the homily I only quoted five of these, but included here 1) To all those who shall recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great graces. 2) Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary shall receive some signal grace. 3) The Rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin, and dispel heresy. 4) The Rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and [...]
29
08, 2015
Marriage Defenders: Part 2 of 2
A friend of mine who is a beautiful wife and mother of seven children was in a supermarket this week. A 50 year old man stopped her and then sarcastically asked her if she knew what "caused" having seven kids. She texted me about this and then added her and her husband's thoughts on this: Some days the world just wears you down and a part of you starts to feel like maybe you are a freak. Not just about having a lot of kids, but about everything. And then you realize you need to spend some time in adoration and start to once again see life through Jesus' eyes [...]
27
08, 2015
Marriage Defenders: Part 1 of 2
The reason why the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox hesitantly accept divorce and remarriage today can be traced back to a 9th century synod, where Greece had a pre-emptive episode of England’s Henry VIII’s libido issues. In fact, the Greek bishops of the 9th century held a synod to recognize the legitimacy of the emperor Constantine’s second marriage. A Greek monk, St. Theodore, stood alone in the breach, calling this synod the “Adultery-Synod,” moecho-synodus in Greek. Like history that would be repeated seven hundred years later in England with Henry VIII versus St. Thomas More, the Greek bishops and the emperor stood behind the synod of adultery, not behind the saint. St. [...]
12
08, 2015
Mercy Killing of Consciences
Today, many Catholics believe that "mercy" consists in remaining silent before someone's sinful lifestyle, so as to let that individual’s gasping conscience, well, die in peace. I think this is the “mercy” that the media is begging the bishops to invoke over those who have fallen into gravely sinful lifestyles: Leave them alone, so they can go on living in peace. And both parties' consciences are alive. barely. Here's my proof that America still has a conscience: The media does not attack Mormons or Muslims for jaw-dropping beliefs like the reception of a pile of women for every man in the afterlife (a strange overlap of Islam and Mormonism.) Why doesn’t the media attack such [...]
16
04, 2015
Family Roles and the Sacrifice of the Mass
The masculine and the feminine in the liturgy is a common topic on the blogosphere right now, so I want to put polemic aside and just see how the Sacred Scripture sees male and female symbolism in the sacrifice of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Because we’re looking to Scripture, I want to quote the man who I believe is the greatest Scripture scholar alive, Dr. Brandt Pitre. He is a young husband and father raising several children in Louisiana. Dr. Pitre contends that, for St. Paul, the main difference between male and female is not strength versus weakness, but rather transcendent versus immanent. Let’s consider the definitions [...]