22 04, 2020

Christ Has Conquered Your Fear of Death

By |2020-04-22T16:35:37+00:00April 22nd, 2020|Theology|

VOA news recently reported on the coronavirus: "The most contentious debate over Orthodox Easter occurred in Georgia [former USSR] where church leaders and the government agreed to allow parishioners to attend dusk-to-dawn Easter vigil services. The agreement meant worshippers were allowed to attend overnight services in large cathedrals despite a curfew, but they were required to maintain a distance of 2 meters. Those who attend small churches had to remain outside. Dozens went to the main cathedral in Tbilisi, where Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II said that the virus had caused fear among many people.” Despite a global fear of death over a virus, these Georgian worshippers stayed up all night worshipping the [...]

12 04, 2020

Resurrection and the Problem of Pain

By |2020-04-13T17:52:24+00:00April 12th, 2020|Theology|

I have thought a lot about "The Problem of Pain" this Lent. The Problem of Pain is the modern atheist's main objection to believing in God:  How could an infinitely good God who is infinitely powerful allow so much evil on earth?  Indeed, there have been many books written to defend the existence of God and the goodness of God. But the one line that kept returning to me this Lent was: "Why must we suffer? Because here below, pure love cannot exist without suffering."—St. Bernadette. This sounds like an oversimplification of an answer to the Problem of Pain, but it is the most perfect explanation I have ever read [...]

7 05, 2017

Third Sunday After Easter: The Indwelling

By |2019-04-05T16:10:27+00:00May 7th, 2017|Podcasts, Sermons, Talks|

Why did Jesus *not* go to other nations after His Resurrection?  The answer has to do with how Christians are called to live the three stages of the interior life:  The purgative way, the illuminitive way and the unitive way.  It also has a lot do with God's initiative in Ascension and Pentecost and then our response that leads to interior divinization and exterior evangelization.  The launching point for this sermon is actually a comparison of the above teachings  in Catholicism pace Mormonism.

5 11, 2016

Why Did Jesus Really Have to Die For Us?

By |2019-04-09T20:05:30+00:00November 5th, 2016|Podcasts, Sermons, Talks|

Why did Jesus really have to die for us?  Many Catholics with a PhD in theology would not be able to say more than a 9 year old:  "To die for our sins."  We look to St. Catherine of Siena for an explanation that is simple enough for a child, but complex enough to [hopefully] satisfy the 12 families who gathered in Louisiana to hear about this central tenant of Our Faith.  

20 08, 2016

A World That Runs on Sacrifice

By |2016-08-21T20:28:39+00:00August 20th, 2016|Theology|

We Christians tend to see the crucifixion as a horrible event, and the resurrection as that which rectified everything. This is actually true. It is totally true, in fact. But there’s a mysterious line in Revelation that seems to say that something of the crucifixion precedes even creation itself. Revelation 13:8 speaks of Jesus Christ as "the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world." There are many translations but I think this is the best translation considering the Greek ἀρνίου τοῦ ἐσφαγμένου ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, translated by St. Jerome as agni qui occisus est ab origine mundi. What does it mean that the Lamb was [...]

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