At a time when many of our normal activities have been shut down, or have been modified due to the need for “social distancing,” we might be asking if things will ever “get back to normal,” or how soon they will do so. Maybe we should be asking another question: “How can I turn this […]
Prayer for the Dead – Insights from the Maronite Church
In the Western Church, our special day of prayer for the deceased is All Souls Day, which occurs every year on November 2nd, the day following All Saints Day. In the Maronite Rite of the Catholic Church (which is part of the ancient Rite from Antioch, where “the disciples were first called Christians”), the last […]
Significance of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Aztec Empire was one of the bloodiest and most diabolical societies of the ancient world. The two main Aztec “gods” were “Lord of the Dark” and “Hummingbird Wizard,” and both of them demanded human sacrifice — and on a massive scale. In one festival in the year 1487 (as recorded by Aztec historians), over […]
Grief to Grace
Early in September, I traveled to Newark, New Jersey, to participate in a “Grief to Grace” retreat. This retreat was written by Dr. Theresa Burke, the founder of Rachel’s Vineyard retreats for healing the wounds of abortion, but Grief to Grace has a different focus — healing the wounds of sexual abuse. I became interested […]
Corpus Christi Sunday
This Sunday, we celebrate the great feast of “Corpus Christi,” now called the “Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.” When this feast was begun, in the 13th century, it was partially begun as a rebuke to the heresy of Berengarius, who was the first person in the history of Christianity to deny the […]
Making a Holy Lent – Part 3
The third element of making a holy Lent is Almsgiving. “Alms” is the traditional term for money or material aid given to a poor person; we see people in the Gospels and Acts begging for alms (St. Peter said to one such person: “silver and gold, I have none, but what I do have, I […]
Making a Holy Lent — Part 2
Fasting: Second Key to a Holy Lent What is fasting? Christian fasting is essentially self-denial — but not for the sake of health, or out of some sense that food or drink is evil. It is self-denial for the Love of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, I meet people who plan to give up something sinful for […]
Making a Holy Lent — Part 1
Prayer: The First Means of Repentance and Key to a good Lent When St. John Chrysostom (d. 407 AD) preached in Antioch (Syria) about repentance, he recommended several practices which have their origin in the Old Testament, and have been used by Christians for the last 2,000 years. These practices are important for our entire […]
Conversion of St. Paul
Who would have ever expected that the man who supervised the murder of St. Stephen, the first martyrdom of a Christian, would have ever become a Christian himself? Yet one day, on the road to Damascus on a mission of persecution, Saul of Tarsus had a vision and heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are […]
“Rejoice in the Lord always!” Celebrating Gaudete Sunday
The holy season of Advent is a time of preparation and waiting — preparation for the coming of Christ our Savior, and waiting with anticipation the joy of His coming. We prepare our hearts for three comings of our Savior: His first coming as a little child — we prepare to celebrate Christmas, not as […]
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