Satan despises the practice of making a daily examination of conscience, for it serves to punish him By Bishop Richard F. Stika “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” — James 4:7-8 Knowing …
A reflection on Benedict’s ‘Deus Caritas Est’
The Holy Father writes that St. John’s First Letter gets to ‘the heart of the Christian faith’ By Deacon Bob Hunt In memory of our beloved Pope Benedict XVI, I would like to offer a reflection on Part I of Benedict’s 2005 encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, “God Is Love.” Next …
Jeremy of the college bookstore meets Tracy
Did Jesus come, disguised and unrecognized, as one of ‘the least of my brothers’? By George Valadie The first time they met—if you want to call it that—was out back behind the store. Neither had expected the other to be there. Jeremy, the manager of the college bookstore, our son-in-law …
How we respond interiorly to God’s action
Opportunities for such participation make our experience of the Mass richer and more fruitful By Father Randy Stice I began my January column with St. John Paul II’s assertion that “the liturgy is the privileged place for the encounter of Christians with God” (Vicesimus Quintus Annus, 7), an encounter that …
What color are your vestments?
In sacrifices we make in the Mass we must live each week, we must ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ By Richard F. Stika “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” — Galatians 3:27 Identity and clothing. Fashion designs often strike me as odd, …
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Free and undeserved help from God
Despite our lives coming up short, the Lord gives us chances to do more and be more By George Valadie It was exactly one month ago when we sat down for lunch in our living room, Nancy in her chair, me and the dog in mine. It’s how we eat …
In the Mass: ‘God himself acts’
‘The liturgy is the privileged place for the encounter of Christians with God and the one whom He has sent’ By Father Randy Stice The Liturgy,” wrote St. John Paul II, “is the privileged place for the encounter of Christians with God and the one whom He has sent, Jesus …
Here’s a New Year’s resolution worth keeping
The potential for transformation is staggering if all U.S. Catholics could live the faith in each moment By Deacon Bob Hunt If you’ve ever read articles or listened to news reports on Catholic demographics, you’ll know that the news has been mostly bad for the last few decades. Reports are …
‘In the joy of your house’
God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven begins in little house of Nazareth and in our hearts By Bishop Richard F. Stika “He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth.” — Matthew 2:23 A dwelling in Nazareth. Christmas, like Easter, is so special, so full of wonder …
There will be no Eucharistic Revival without vocations
By Father Roger Landry National Catholic Register The center of the Eucharistic Revival, the three-year initiative of the Church in the United States, is obviously and appropriately the eucharistic Jesus — the root, center, source, and summit of the Christian life. But as the Church celebrated the patron saint of …
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A wife’s visions of how Christmas should unfold
They recall the visions of another mom from 2,000 years ago and how her son’s life would be By George Valadie “ … while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.” Now that I think about it, I have no clue what a sugarplum is and have never eaten one …
Losing Mom to Alzheimer’s, one Catholic ritual at a time
Seeing a loved one battle the disease ‘is like a death over and over again . . . the long goodbye’ By Jeannie Hixon I have a confession to make . . . lately I have found myself distracted during the Mass. I used to be distracted by the typical …
