8th Sunday after Pentecost
How important is charity for the traditional Catholic? (Sorry I spoke too close to the mike. I'll avoid this next time.)
8
07, 2016
7
12, 2015
St. Ambrose
What does St. Ambrose have to do with the Navy Seals and St. Therese?
24
11, 2015
St. John of the Cross and The Buddha
The above picture is a remake of the spiritual life as drawn and described by the greatest ascetical theologian of the past millennium, St. John of the Cross. St. John of the Cross was a 16th century Carmelite whose feast day we celebrate today in the TLM (a couple weeks out in the new calendar.) If you look at that picture (which is hard to see but phenomenal if you can expand it) you will see that the man or woman who sets out to seek God is called to a narrow path that not only despises any earthly attachments that prevent union with God, but also despises any self-centered [...]
21
11, 2015
Did Mary Grow in Holiness?
Homily from today's Mass: the Presentation of Mary in the Temple.
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