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.
15
11, 2015
14
11, 2015
Paris Attacks
I'm about to go offer Mass for the 150+ victims of the Paris terror attack that has been claimed by ISIS. The last time France has seen this much violence (besides abortion) was the French Revolution. How unbelievably insensitive, then, of President Obama to quote the three key words of the French Revolution as the common source of resistance against terrorism: "We are reminded in this time of tragedy that the bonds of liberté, egalité, fraternité are not just the values French people share, but we share."—President Obama, 13 November 2015 So, if it's true that the last time France saw this many murders was the French Revolution, then why has Obama quoted [...]
11
11, 2015
Should We Sell Vatican Art for the Poor?
This actually isn't a debate coming out of Rome these days (thankfully) but I write about it because most of you have heard this question from some family member or a person on a plane at one point. Should we sell Vatican Art for the Poor? Of course, my answer is "No," but I want to give you some new answers for your friends. 1) The first great commandment comes before the second great commandment. Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: [...]
5
11, 2015
Colbert vs. Mother Teresa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5weP79J7bM In this short video, Stephen Colbert (comedian-turned-theologian) says “Faith ultimately can’t be argued; faith has to be felt." Let's cut through his poor philosophy and consider reality: 1) Feelings are often no different from biochemical pleasures. God uses feelings in all stages of prayer, but it is not central to the substance of the soul where the Blessed Trinity resides. If faith must be "felt" as Colbert said, then where does that leave Mother Teresa who couldn't feel anything for 60 years of prayer? But false-positives abound, too: If I drink an enormous Chemex hipster coffee and feel like a saint who could take on the world, did I just "feel" an increase in [...]
2
11, 2015
All Souls Day and Syria
I have no intention of making this blog page a news source (much less a newsletter of personal prayer intentions) but I thought that today, All Souls, would be an important day to highlight the civil war in Syria. Today, I write a very short post to simply beg for your prayers on the behalf of 250,000 who have died. St. Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest work we can do on earth is to pray for the dead, as I blogged about here. It is good to visit the cemeteries and to pray for the repose of the souls of our loved ones, but our family is bigger than [...]
2
11, 2015
Repost: The Greatest Work
All Souls Day and all of November is the month to pray for the dead, so I decided to run my first "re-post" on this very topic. (Don't worry. I have a new blog post coming out Friday called "Stephen Colbert vs. Mother Teresa," and also don't miss my recent commentary on New York Times' Ross Douthat.) Every Christian is called to do the "Works of Mercy," upon which our final judgment will be based, as seen in Matthew 25: The Final Judgment “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered [...]
29
10, 2015
How Long Is Eternity?
Welcome to Virginia Beach, home of America's friendliest people and worst drivers. (Well, that's my assessment, but it's a great place to be, all things considered.) This is a military area known as the "Redneck Riviera." The entire metropolitan area is a waterland of fresh and salty rivers containing about ten 100,000-person-cities collectively known as Tidewater or Hampton Roads. It's home to the Atlantic Fleet of the Navy, countless other military bases and real-life heroes they make movies about (literally.) But not every soldier comes back home to Hampton Roads... So, where do all the dead soldiers and normal civilians go? 100% of them ultimately go to heaven or hell. Do they all go to heaven? No. "Small is the gate and [...]
28
10, 2015
Eucharistic Procession 2015
Friends helped me make this 1 minute video of our Eucharistic Procession on the boardwalk of Virginia Beach. This Eucharistic Procession was spearheaded by my pastor and continued by him and many others the past few years. Special thanks to Mike Cistola, Keith Forrest and especially John and Rich at Tele-Video Productions of Virginia Beach. Our goal is to see these in every city, especially on the East Coast, so please post this on social media and share it with your pastors. It's great evidence what one pastor can do to fire up a whole city. https://vimeo.com/143667007 Make sure to watch it in HD.
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 [...]
6
10, 2015
FOCUS Breakout Sessions
If you want to see something new and serious from me, see here. But, on my Evernote, I recently looked at this satire that my teammate and I had made a decade ago for an upcoming conference while working for FOCUS (also in Virginia, where I am now—but back in 2004.) Forgive a few inside jokes, but here's our FOCUS conference breakout-session title suggestions, mostly still valid suggestions for the next one: Protestants: Friend or Foe? Rainforest Decline: Ecoterrorism and the Catholic. How I made it to Life on the Rock. Dare We Hope that All Be Saved? Why Lord of the Rings was, like, totally Catholic. Fashion Tips for the New Evangelization FACT: What it originally stood for. Christendom vs. [...]