Sin is never a purely individual affair, “it always damages the [communion with the Church] that we have entered
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Baptism is called the “portal to all the sacraments,” but it is our participation in the Eucharistic sacrifice which perfects within us the gifts given to us at Baptism.” It is here that our Christian initiation–which
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“ A contemplative gaze ‘upon him whom they have pierced’ (Jn 19:37) leads us to reflect on the causal connection between
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Jesus willingly put aside His divine glory and became the lowest of humans, a poor carpenter from a backwater town in Galilee. He suffered and because he obediently suffered the death of a slave, he was crowned with glory and honor. The idea was to bring many of God’s children to the same glory,
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The Holy Father reminds us of the words of St. Cyril: we "call upon God in his mercy to send his Holy Spirit upon the offerings before us, to transform the bread into the body of Christ and the wine into the blood of
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As Eucharistic Prayer 4 prays: grant in your loving kindness to all who partake of this one Bread and one Chalice that, gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit,
they may truly
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The new priest offered his first sermon to his congregation. As the people left, many stopped and complimented him on his preaching. He thanked them, went through the week and, the next Sunday, noticed a larger congregation. Some of the parishioners looked at each other during the sermon
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And His word is this: My love for you is so intense that I will do economically stupid things to bring you to myself. For just one soul God will give, has given, everything, even His
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A homeless drug addict in June 1984, John Corapi stumbled back into his mother’s house, with what he called all the forces of hell riding on his shoulder. He prayed for the first time in years and experienced the mercy of God, a sense of peace that replaced the wrath he had felt until then. He
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One of the earliest disciples of Ignatius Loyola, one of the first Jesuits, Francis was going to go to Palestine to convert Muslims–and probably be martyred–when an opportunity arose to travel farther East to preach Jesus. He asked to be sent as a missionary to the Far East. By all
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The tax farmers in Israel, here called tax-collectors, were somewhat different from IRS agents. They were more like Mafia enforcers, employing thugs to shake down local citizens and merchants. The Romans specified how much each tax man was supposed to pay them, and the architelōē or
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2008 POLITICS
This time around, our American bishops weren't cowering in a corner–they were telling everyone that politicians who fail to defend the most defenseless humans–preborn babies–and who want to use your tax money and mine to murder these children–are not worthy of our vote.
And even
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I recently heard from a reliable source that research tells us teenage girls would rather be a gopher for a celebrity than be CEO of a major corporation. Fame is deceptive and beauty fleeting, as Proverbs says, but they are both mighty attractive to the superficial mind. We
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The great divide between Jew and Gentile was symbolized by the wall in Herod’s Temple that separated the outer court of the Gentiles from the inner Courts of Israel. Gates leading into those inner precincts were posted with signs warning that Gentile trespassers would be killed. In fact, the Book
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The Jews of Paul’s time, by and large, rejected the Son of God, and the covenant of faith. That’s why they revolted over and over against the Romans, who ultimately destroyed Jerusalem and scattered them all over the world. Here, Paul gets really cutting. He lumps the Jews who reject Christ
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The great musicologist and Congregational minister Erik Routley was once greeting his parishioners as they left church on Sunday. He noticed one of the teenage girls carrying one of the popularizing versions of the Scriptures. "I see you have the new translation of the Bible," he said. "How do
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The psalmist, probably in similar trouble, feels like he’s in the depths of the pit, surrounded by darkness. The irony is that if you go to Bethlehem, as we did three years ago, you can celebrate Eucharist in St. Jerome’s cell, where he translated the Sacred Scriptures into Latin. To get there,
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God's Will is Best
Angels are pure spirits, but it was God's intention to raise human beings, who are lower than the angels, to divine status, to union with the Trinity. An ancient tradition tells us that this was the cause of Lucifer's rebellion, jealousy over one day being ruled by a mere
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Those of us who have been shocked by God’s Truth at some point in our lives often realize that what we have been doing in good faith and, we thought, to honor God was in fact just the opposite of what God wants. And, I hasten to add, we often spend the
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