Did Mary Grow in Holiness?
Homily from today's Mass: the Presentation of Mary in the Temple.
21
11, 2015
20
11, 2015
Christianity vs. Islam
Today's feast honors St. Felix of Valois, a 13th century saint who gave himself to be the ransom (replacement) of Christians taken hostage by Muslims. At Mass tonight, I preached my sermon on St. Felix and the theology of both Christianity and Islam.
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 [...]
3
09, 2015
Offertory
A friend recently e-mailed me and he said that reading my blog is "like drinking sparkling water while pulling nose hairs." Well, this is going to be one of those sparkling water ones without the pulling of nose hairs. Despite the seemingly-boring topic of this post, the Offertory of the Mass, I’m going to make a tall promise: What I show you on the Offertory of the Mass will transform your weekly worship into something new, interpersonal, meaningful and even thrilling if you enact it, as Mega-Churchy as that promise sounds. The offertory is the part of the Mass after the homily when the priest prepares the altar for the sacrifice. In sung Masses, the offertory prayer is sung. In the sung Latin [...]
2
09, 2015
Trust or Virtue?
Salvation is a free gift that we receive from God at our baptism (1 Pt 3:21.) However, for salvation to be realized, we must cooperate in a life of virtue (Mt 24:13). Maybe we ask the question: Does virtue come from God or from me? Even the gift of virtue or discipline comes from God. While some Catholics try to earn their way to heaven without any trust in Jesus Christ, other Catholics commit the opposite heresy of “once saved always saved,” which usually leads to a life of laziness. This post is not a Scriptural apologetic for the Catholic view of salvation. It’s a short writing where I look [...]
23
08, 2015
9+1 Little Lepers
Homily from the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, 2015, Traditional Latin Mass calendar:
2
08, 2015
The Pharisee and the Publican
10th Sunday after Pentecost, old calendar
16
05, 2015
Pilgrimage 1 of 5
This is a series not on my current pilgrimage, but on the Theology of Pilgrimage. A priest-friend from Denver once said to me: "Pilgrimage isn't just another analogy for the Christian life. Pilgrimage is the reality of the Christian life." That may not sound too profound at first, but the more I meditated on the Old and New Testament, the more I realized that every book of the Bible fulfilled these words. It is no wonder that he had walked the Camino a few times. I'm in Spain now, but when I wrote this post, I was flying from India to Spain. Flying over the Red Sea, I look at the computer [...]
22
04, 2015
Consolation versus Desolation
Flying over India last night, I found that every time I lifted my heart to God, I was given tremendous peace and consolation, especially when I thought of St. Francis Xavier bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that land 37,000 feet below me, dark at 3am and barely alit with the poor lights of over a billion people. I wondered why this joy didn't happen every time I prayed! That is what this post is about: Why we enjoy God in prayer some days, and then fear our time in prayer on other days. I just finished offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the tomb of Mother [...]