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 […]Read more

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. […]Read more

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 […]Read more

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 […]Read more

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). In Sacred Scripture justice or righteousness are essentially religious notions, like the biblical notion of holiness. As God says: the “righteous shall live by faith” (Hebrews 10:38, quoting Habakkuk 2:4), and “without faith it is impossible to please” God […]Read more

If your family or children participated in an All Saints Day celebration chances are you would have seen a few children donned in long brown robes with a white rope tied about their waist. St. Francis’ love of nature and animals captivates the hearts of many children, including my own son. The young love to […]Read more

St. Paul says: “Love bears all things” (panta stégei). Christian meekness means “more than simply putting up with evil… [or] holding one’s peace… It implies limiting judgment, checking the impulse to issue a firm and ruthless condemnation: Judge not and you will not be judged (Luke 6:37)” (Amoris Lætitia 112). For condemning others is the […]Read more

Respecting human life means also respecting the body, temple of God’s gift of life and of the Holy Spirit. Meekness towards our body means giving it proper nutrition and care—as we would any gift from someone we loved and respected—and avoiding things that harm or incapacitate the body, even temporarily, such as recreational drugs or […]Read more

Racism has been polarizing our country unnecessarily because all lives matter to us as children of God! As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says so forcefully: Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice […]Read more