How shall I know this? The elderly priest Zachariah listens to an extraordinary, thrilling, joyous message from an angel of God. But when the angel finishes his magnificent prophetic message, instead of rejoicing at the news, the priest asks, “How shall I know this?” The angel’s unhappy with the priest’s disbelief and renders Zachariah mute […]
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What would it look like if we treated everyone with authority and humility? Monday’s 6am Mass at Saint Matthew’s was celebrated by Fr. Paul who issues a challenge at the end of his early Monday morning Masses. Monday’s was, “What would it look like if we treated everyone with power and humility?” Everyone: the HEB
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It’s advent: don’t waste these precious days! Quietly competing with the banal and boring commercialism of Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays extended sales is another invitation. But it cannot be heard outside in the streets or while listening to CNN. Instead we must silent all the shouts of the marketplace to listen to another voice…more
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Why reason is required for faith Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come
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Lessons in stupidity from King Herod Unfortunately, some of us just get old without losing the stupidity of youth. Like lessons in stupidity from King Herod. Each August 29th, the Christian liturgy memorializes the beheading of John the Baptist. It’s one of the few Gospel readings that don’t include Jesus– and contains the perfect recipe
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Love: how extrordinarily wrong we are about it. A few years ago, I wrote a piece that recalled an event not long after I converted to Catholic Christianity from decades of mostly atheism. Alone in the church after Mass I sat transfixed by the crucifix. Mesmerized by this ginormous quintessence of agony stretched over the
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On reparations, policy and guilt “This is nuts,” I said to John after reading that New York was paying reparations to black Americans “affected by slavery”and that black lives matter protesters had won 13 million–a little under 10,000 per person–in a class action law suit against the city. “It’s not nuts,” my husband said, “It’s guilt. But misplaced
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Wonder: Our only fitting attitude In the era of instant everythng, have we lost our capacity for awe? With too much time, food and vast varieties of entertainment a finger tap away, dark and dangerous can look exciting and adventurous. And boredom can drive the more vulnerable among us to drug induced highs. With another
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The rosary of Our Lady was a favored book of two popes. Therefore I ordered it and put away for future reading. And forgot about it. Until this week. This week where Monday was the Feast of Our Lady Mother of the Church and Wednesday, the Feast of the Visitation. Isn’t it cool when forgotten books leap into our
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A journey of forgiveness “Our life on earth is a journey of forgiveness,” declared Fr. Paul at the St. Matthew’s Tuesday 6am daily Mass. Commenting on the Gospel for last Tuesday, the priest spoke of a recent experience with a parishioner following the sacrament of reconciliation. He told the contrite young man, “I see Jesus in you.
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