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.

The Divine Pedagogy

June 28, 2023June 26, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

Forming our conscience is key to living in Christ’s love, a “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith,” moving us to “wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Timothy 1:5,18-19). To help us […]

Resolving Doubts and Uncertainty

June 19, 2023June 28, 2023 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Sometimes doubts, uncertainty, and fears enter our heads, and we don’t know what to do. Forming our conscience responsibly includes developing the virtue of prudence, the habit of properly exercising the conscience, knowing when we can trust its formation, and the need to act on its judgments. A prudent conscience is like well-exercised muscles that […]

Forming Our Conscience in the Truth

June 12, 2023June 9, 2023 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Some say: Ignorance is bliss. But they say this because they really want to do what they want to do. Only invincible ignorance excuses a person who has no possibility of knowing the morality of an act. This is most common among children and very uneducated people. If… the ignorance is invincible, or the moral […]

Always Follow a Conscience Enlightened by Truth

June 6, 2023June 2, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

The Church values God’s gift of conscience as the sacred place where God enlightens our path with the light of truth, the truth of the goodness and evil of our actions. When we seek to follow God’s will, the light of truth shines upon the conscience. This is why we are obliged to follow certain […]

Conscience: The Truth Shall Set You Free

May 30, 2023May 25, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

On Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, stirring them to action. He doesn’t come by some momentary action but continues to manifest himself in our hearts in various ways. One of those ways is his work in our conscience, moving us to choose good and avoid evil. Conscience is a wonderful gift whereby […]

Unforgivable Sins Against the Spirit

May 24, 2023May 19, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

We are preparing for the feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let’s do so praying that the whole Church—and each one of us—be open to his inspiration. Our Lord’s mention of a sin that will not be forgiven and some find this disturbing: “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will […]

What Actions Objectively Say

May 22, 2023May 18, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

We classify an action by its object (its objective essence). When an action’s object is evil—such as murder, the killing of an innocent human being—it is morally evil to do it. A particular choice can also be evil in its subjective dimension (motive or intention) or when circumstances (or accidents) make the choice evil. A […]

Becoming “Martyrs” to the Seven Deadly Sins

May 16, 2023May 16, 2023 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

“There are six things which the LORD hates, seven which are an abomination to him” (Proverbs 6:16). The seven deadly sins (or capital vices) are “works of the flesh”—temptations or habits—that directly lead to the kind of behaviors that “those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21). The deadly […]

Combatting Temptation

May 15, 2023May 11, 2023 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Temptations are wonderful opportunities to manifest our love and deepen our relationship. The way we react to the temptation can and should affirm our love. One way to show our love is to avoid occasions of sin (persons, places, things that easily lead to sin). For example, if an alcoholic finds it impossible to resist […]

When is Sin not a Sin?

May 4, 2023May 2, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

Not everything unlawful is a sin, as Jesus clearly points out: “Hear and understand: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth… [as] what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, […]

Loss of the Sense of Sin

April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Sin ruptures our relationship with Jesus Christ, the source of the freely given gift of grace and eternal beatitude. Sin is thus the principal obstacle to true happiness, as it hurts relationships key to that happiness. Recent popes have identified another obstacle to grace: “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense […]

Freedom of the Children of God

February 13, 2023February 10, 2023 Articles, Catechesis

Our human dignity consists in being loved as God’s own sons and daughters, free to love in return. As Fr. Fernando Ocáriz relates: Our divine filiation enables our freedom to expand with all the strength that God has bestowed on it. It is not by emancipating ourselves from the Father’s house that we become free, […]

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