The Eucharist has a “nuptial character. . .it is the sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride.” Moreover, “the entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. . .Baptism. .
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St. John of the Cross was right: "it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that
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But the choice of celibacy has first and foremost a nuptial meaning, . . .a profound identification with the heart of Christ, the Bridegroom who gives his life for his Bride. . .Priestly celibacy lived with maturity, joy
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Jesus was not an effective leader. Not by the world’s standards. After all, in the corporate crisis, nobody bailed him out and his entire staff ran out on him. His chief operating officer denied him three times and only his mother and his office gofer were with him at his death. And yet, in
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Not quite twenty years ago, Wess Roberts published a book entitled Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun. He later confessed that he chose Attila as his title character because so little is known about the Hun leader. It was,
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PHARISEES WANT A SIGN
The word peroushim, transliterated "Pharisees," means "separated ones." Their attitude is that external observance of the hundreds of prescriptions of the Law is the essential human response to the covenant of God. They seek a sign–-and remember that Jesus has just given
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Two men are on a journey one day. The first complains to the second that he never focuses on anything; he's always being distracted by something. The second disputes the claim and says he can and does focus on doing what he is doing frequently. The first man says, "I bet you a banana split that
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Job sat on his dunghill and reflected that he was not alone in his pain. Everyone awakes to the same reality–hard work or hard study and every day’s the same thing, and nothing you do ever seems to make a difference. The line is Bill Murray’s from Groundhog Day, but, especially in a tough
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I have witnessed and experienced miracles in my life. Most have been spiritual and emotional, but some, like the healing of the arthritic pain in my left knee during a prayer service, have been physical. Healings are exhibitions of
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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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