"Cast yourself into the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, he will fit you for the work and give you strength." - St. Philip Neri Our story begins as Jesus starts gathering his disciples. The following passage of the Gospel of John will allow us to glean some interesting information about Simon Peter, the fisherman from Galilee. The next day John [the Baptist] again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is … [Read more...]
God-Killing Theologies
What follows is a conversation between two Catholic friends. We will call them Beppe and Carlo. Beppe wrote: « In between sleep and wakefulness (is that wokish?) I was thinking about the photo you sent with the multi-color runner and matching mask. [NOTE: this was a presumably Catholic priest who had the altar covered by a rainbow runner and appeared wearing a rainbow surgical mask] Strangely my thoughts turned to the three little peasant children at Fatima. They were 10, 9 and 7 years old … [Read more...]
Ponder In Your Hearts
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:16-20 NIV) Mary remembered … [Read more...]
It’s Christmas. Call Your Mother
Christmas is a good time to remember the words of Our Lady to St. Juan Diego: "Am I not here who Am Your Mother?" Those are tender words of a Mother to her baby, to that defenseless human being who cannot survive on his own. Recently, I saw a well intentioned poster depicting the Holy Family. Next to the image, in Spanish, were the words: "Navidad es ternura" (Christmas is tenderness) and that is true if we only center the attention in those cute images of baby Jesus under the gaze of his … [Read more...]
The Final Straw?
I am writing this at a time when a number of attacks have destroyed images of Our Blessed Mother in Europe, the Americas, and elsewhere. I must add a personal note to this: recently I have conversed with ordinary people that suddenly revealed a rather unusual hate for all things Christian. Beleaguered by contagious infirmities, rumors of war, ruinous policies coming from various governments, terrorism of many kinds, crime and a host of maladies too long to be listed, the poor chaps still have … [Read more...]
