Author: Fr. John Waiss

Fr. John Waiss

Father John Waiss is the pastor of St. Mary of the Angels Church in Chicago, Illinois. He is also a member of Opus Dei, the prelature founded by St. Josemaria Escriva.

Blessed are the Pure of Heart

March 11, 2024March 8, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God (Matthew 5:18). Pope Francis notes: This Beatitude speaks of those whose hearts are simple, pure and undefiled, for a heart capable of love admits nothing that might harm, weaken or endanger that love. The Bible uses the heart to describe our real intentions, the […]

St. Josemaría’s Love for Freedom

March 5, 2024March 4, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of common good and public order (CCC 1738). St. Josemaría had a great love for freedom, while insisting […]

Religious Freedom and Obedience to the State

March 1, 2024February 26, 2024 Articles, News and Culture

The state has a duty to protect the private and public exercise of religion and each person’s right to religious freedom—no one should ever be forced to act against his conscience: In what way does a person exercise his or her proper right to worship God in truth and in freedom? Every person has the […]

Respecting Authority and Civic Laws

February 22, 2024February 21, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Jewish leaders often challenged Jesus, yet he encouraged us to respect all legitimate authority. For example, when the Scribes and Pharisees try to trap our Lord, dragging before him a woman they caught in adultery: should we obey the Law, which commands good Jews to stone such persons, or obey the Roman law, which forbids […]

Family (Social) Participation

February 11, 2024February 12, 2024 Articles, Family and Kids

Children often complain and criticize parents and their rules, especially when they don’t get to do what they want. Citizens often do the same with governmental leaders and laws. Yet our responsibility goes beyond obeying legitimate authorities and laws. As children grow they are called to take on more responsibility for the well-being of the […]

Mercy and Obedience

February 10, 2024February 7, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Often people reduce the Fourth Commandment, “Honor thy father and mother,” to a child’s obedience. Certainly, obedience is important, as a child honors his parents and God by obeying them and God’s law. Obedience is the child’s way of saying that he trusts that his parents know and want what is best for him and […]

Embracing the Power of Forgiveness

January 15, 2024January 16, 2024 Articles, Catechesis

Pope Francis reminds us of the importance of forgiving others: Jesus does not say, “Blessed are those who plot revenge.” He calls “blessed” those who forgive and do so “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). We need to think of ourselves as an army of the forgiven. All of us have been looked upon with divine […]

Merciful Love is Hopeful

January 9, 2024January 8, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

The Incarnate Word was born not in a palace, mansion, or even in an ordinary home, but in a cave; he came into the world with nothing, except an earthly mother and father who loved him with all their heart. That was all Christ wanted, nothing else. What is truly valuable is not gold, fame, […]

Love is Not Boastful

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 Articles, Catechesis

Precepts of the Church (CCC 2042) 1: Attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. 2: Confess your sins at least once a year. 3: Go to Communion at least once a year during Easter season. 4: Keep holy Sundays and holy days of obligation. 5: Observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence. […]

Love is Meek

December 29, 2023December 29, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

Blessed are the meek… because “love is patient” (makrothyméi). Pope Francis links this assertion of 1 Corinthians 13 to God’s meekness and mercy: Makrothyméi… [is] the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where we read that God is “slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18). It refers, then, to the quality of one who does […]

Hungering for the Lord’s Day

November 20, 2023January 22, 2024 Articles, Catechesis

Hungering for the Lord’s Day Holiness is a right relationship with God: “Be holy; for I the LORD am holy” (Leviticus 20:26). Our hunger and thirst for righteousness makes us hunger and thirst for God and for keeping his special Day holy, thus fulfilling the Third Commandment. Think: if you love your mother, wouldn’t you […]

Love Is Not Envious

November 18, 2023November 18, 2023 Articles, Family and Kids

Morality is about learning how to love, for if we can’t love we are nothing (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Our Lord teaches us how to love in the Beatitudes and in the family, a true school of love. Pope Francis tells us: “Love is experienced and nurtured in the daily life of couples and their […]

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