Q: I have a confession question. I have heard that past sins, either venial or mortal, even after confessing them stay with you somewhat and only ‘really’ get dismissed after your soul is scrubbed clean by time in purgatory. So would someone with a very bad past who does a turn-around, goes to Confession and…
Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 9:26-31 Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32 1 Jn 3:18-24 Jn 15:1-8 The readings for this Fifth Sunday of Easter introduce us to someone we don’t hear about very much. But he has a lot to say to us, especially now. I’m talking about St Barnabas. The reading from Acts describes…
All things considered; I believe that I grew up with a relatively healthy concept of God. The God of my youth, the God that I was catechised into, was not unduly punishing, arbitrary, or judgmental. Granted, he was omnipresent so that all of our sins were noticed and noted; but, at the end of the…
Good Shepherd Sunday Acts 4:8-12 Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29 1 Jn 3:1-2 Jn 10:11-18 Throughout 2,000 years of Christian history, artistic expressions of faith can always be found. From the rustic art of the early Roman catacombs to the monumental Byzantine Romanesque basilicas to the soaring Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages,…
The virtue of justice is fundamental for peaceful coexistence, writes Pope Francis Here we are at the second of the cardinal virtues: today we will talk about justice. It is the quintessential social virtue. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it as “the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will…
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe “We are an Easter people and ‘alleluia’ is our song.” We love to quote St Augustine when we talk about what the church of Jesus Christ is. And honestly, there may be no better description. But I think a lot of us, somewhere along the line, have lost hope that…
In a poem Serenade, Brazilian poet Adelia Prado speaks of a painful ache we feel inside us as we forever wait for something or someone to come and make us whole. What are we waiting for? Love? A soulmate? God? No matter, the frustration eventually pushes us towards a choice, go crazy or turn…
“You are witnesses of these things.” It almost sounds like an episode of CSI: Jerusalem. But the case unfolding in this Sunday’s Gospel is part of a larger story that gives the overwhelming events of Holy Week and Easter a surprisingly relatable, realistic dimension. Luke gives us a risen Jesus who not only appears,…
Q: In my parish, we have an antique candle holder for the paschal candle. The design on the candle stand looks like it has some sort of insect, and so my 6-year-old asked me why there were ‘bugs on the Paschal candle’. Any thoughts? A: My guess is that the ‘bugs on the paschal candle’…
Carl E. Olson It is something of a tradition for magazines and newspapers to run articles about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the weeks leading up to Easter. Scholars, pastors, skeptics and ordinary people weigh in with their opinions. Some argue the Resurrection never took place. Down through time there have…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser