Scott Richert When my sisters and I were young, my mother would spend all of Advent baking cookies and making candy. That may hardly seem remarkable; after all, countless millions of Christmas cookies are baked and consumed every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. But my mother didn’t eat any of the cookies she…
Sr Nancy Usselmann Though they’re gifts from God, living and working behind our media screens can sap our energy and leave us feeling listless and spiritually dry. Growing our spiritual lives while immersed in a digital world requires a media spirituality that centres us in Christ, the perfect communicator. Blessed James Alberione developed Pauline spirituality…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: Why do Orthodox Christians confirm their infants at Baptism and also permit babies to receive the Eucharist, and why do Catholics wait? A: Thank you for your interesting question! First, it’s not only Orthodox Christians who confer all three sacraments of initiation at the time of Baptism – Eastern Catholics do…
In the days of apartheid in South Africa, Christians there used to light candles and place them in their windows as a sign to themselves and others that they believed that someday this injustice would end. A candle burning in a window was a sign of hope and a political statement. The government didn’t miss…
Jem Sullivan Is 61:1-2a, 10-11 Lk 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54 1 Thes 5:16-24 Jn 1:6-8, 19-28 “Rejoice in the Lord!” is the invitation we hear this Third Sunday of Advent, when God’s word calls us, once again, to enter into the mystery of the Incarnation, soon to be celebrated in the great feast of Christmas.…
It’s important to understand God’s will properly, writes Emily Stimpson Chapman Question: Which of the following events were God’s will? The Fall of man? The Crucifixion? The most recent car accident you were in? Last month’s breakup with your significant other? Answer: They were all God’s will … at least in a way. How’s that…
Silvio Cuéllar The air is now filled with Christmas music, special offers and sales. This materialistic culture invites us to buy and buy the latest, newest thing. However, this Advent season can also be a time to share our time, talents, and treasure with others. Helping the poor In his recent homily for the World…
Fr Patrick Briscoe OP “Human beings possess a great and readily observable weakness for which they need much support and comfort,” says the Italian priest philosopher Luigi Giussani. “They have an endemic fear engendered by a temptation to reduce the total image of their lives to what can be visibly and materially experienced.” How we…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: Why do Catholics pray for the souls in purgatory to lessen their sufferings? Is it possible that the souls already in purgatory would even go to hell, so our prayers for them would save them from going to hell? A: We don’t pray that souls in purgatory won’t wind up in…
When all is said and done, our lives are not all that serene and peaceful. In a manner of speaking, we are always somewhat pathetic. That shouldn’t scare us. Pathetic is not a pejorative term. The word comes from the Greek, ‘pathos’, which means pain. To be pathetic is to live in pain, and we…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser