This homily is about victory in loss and how good comes from evil in your life. We took these pictures in Rwanda two years ago. In the top picture, the Blessed Mother appeared in Kibeho in 1981 and 1982 in a Vatican-approved apparition. Below, we walk in a Eucharistic procession through the streets that—only 20 years prior— the dead had been macheted in the genocide. Now the King of Life and Love triumphs over death on the streets.
How to make of your life an offering to God.
Everyone knows that Catholics love the Blessed Virgin Mary and everyone knows that Protestants love the Apostle Paul. But did you know that a 17th century woman saint was shown in a vision the life of Mary? Venerable Mary of Agreda (ok, almost a saint) was a Spanish Franciscan nun. She was given the private revelation of the entire life of Mary (from her Immaculate Conception to past her Assumption and Coronation) all of which she recorded in a book called The Mystical City of God (not to be confused with a similar title of St. Augustine, written 1200 years earlier.) This Franciscan nun's private revelation of the life of Mary is [...]
This homily is on the healing power of forgiveness, borrowed mostly from Fr. Gary Selin (and a little from Jeff Cavins.)
When Thomas Jefferson used the term "separation of Church and State" it was to assure a group of Baptists that the State would not trample the rights of their community. He wrote: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of [...]
October is the month of the Holy Rosary. I took this picture outside of the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei in Italy during Easter week of 2016. The Church was built about 140 years ago by a former-satanist, Bl. Bartolomo Longo, a man who changed his life through the Rosary. He is now up for canonization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxWTHi73GBg
"How to be a better father" is a talk I gave to men last night. It’s based on St. Peter’s first letter to his own men.
The entire story of Jews and Catholics meet: God marries His people in today's Gospel, Matthew 22.
Myth #1: A priest can give you permission to skip Sunday Mass if you had a very busy weekend (for example, a Saturday wedding.) Truth: Sunday Mass is part of the Third Commandment. A priest can not dispense you from God’s commandments. No sooner could a priest give a frisky married man a dispensation on the 6th commandment for his travels than he could give a person a dispensation for fulfilling a matter of Divine Law. I blogged recently on the different levels of authority here. If you are sick or having a baby or travelling (i.e Mass would be impossible) then there is no sin in missing Sunday Mass. [...]
