Eucharistic Communion: Christ and His Bride become One Flesh
Baptized Christians who do not celebrate the Eucharist are in a friendship-marriage, or a 'Josephite marriage' with Christ the bridegroom.... Read More
Pondering/Reflection
Ponder with Paul, beneath the surface.
Appropriate Shame?
Appropriate guilt is the soul’s natural response to choosing to do something wrong. Shame is humiliation due to the effects of bad acts inflicted on the self either from oneself or others, which diminishes, even slightly, the fullness of personal integrity and dignity. There are those who claim that redemption in Christ eradicates any and […]... Read More
Hearts Unopened to God in the Bread and in the Wind
In today’s gospel, after the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus has His disciples get on a boat toward Bethsaida while He remained on shore to pray. The disciples eventually were tossed around on the sea due to the wind before Jesus walked on the water and came aboard, stilling the wind for them. What might […]... Read More
Big Difference between Not Knowing and Rejecting
Natural law morality is universally accessible through human reason alone. In theory, no religious faith is necessary to grasp and accept it. Natural law is the moral code that corresponds to the ends and goods of human nature, for optimal human fulfillment. Although the pre-Christian pagan world that never knew Truth incarnate was primitive and […]... Read More
The Noah’s Ark of the New Covenant
What is meant by the ancient mantra of Church fathers that the Church is the Noah’s Ark of the New Covenant? Noah is an OT typological prefigurement of Christ, and his Ark is of the Church. To be saved from the deluge, species had to follow Noah aboard his ark. Likewise, to be saved from […]... Read More
All Matter Has Meaning
All things are composed of matter and form. Matter is the expression of being and form is its essence/meaning. Matter without form is unintelligible. Words are simply sounds or scribbles without interpretating and extracting meaning from them. This is a reflection of Christ as God’s Word and the Spirit as He who makes Him intelligible […]... Read More
God’s love is infinitely bigger than we can imagine
One of the greatest barriers to religiosity this side of Eden is our limited minds’ inability to understand the paradox of God’s infinite love in the face of our finite being. God commands us to live the truth of our nature as He designed it and punishes the stubborn hard-hearted; AND he continuously seeks repentance […]... Read More
“You shall be like gods…”
The great temptation, from the beginning, has been to become one's own god. It's the ultimate recipe for unhappiness.... Read More
Is Forgiveness Natural?
The Melanesian people with all their languages had no word for forgiveness. In fact, it’s difficult to find the term in the languages of peoples and cultures unaffected by Christianity. This may be because the concept is foreign to human nature: injustice demands retribution. When Mosaic law adopted “an eye for an eye, a tooth […]... Read More
Supernatural Gift of Faith is Another Term for Spiritual Sight
Before sin entered the world and disconnected human nature from perfect union with God, our first parents were able to ‘see’ God through faith, by the unimpeded sanctifying grace that was offered (but rejected). This spiritual sight is restored by the grace won for humanity on the cross, albeit as a bit more cloudy and […]... Read More
Religious obligations, while not an end, are not optional
You can't build a beautiful skyscraper without a foundation. The spiritual life begins with religious obligation – to God and neighbor.... Read More
Why is Mass Attendance Obligatory and Necessary?
The central act of history happened at Calgary over two millennia ago. That one saving act of Christ is made present each and every time Mass (divine liturgy) is celebrated; and the grace that it won for us is dispensed to those who are participating.... Read More
The Complementary Sexual Dynamic the Modern World Hates
Today’s first reading at Mass is the most un-PC in the New Testament (Eph 5:21-33), which, unfortunately, leads some clergy to avoid it out of lack of faith, lack of understanding, or cowardice. Yet, it offers a clear illustration of the beauty of the masculine-feminine relational dynamic, whose source is found the eternal relation between […]... Read More
When Killing the Innocent Becomes Inevitable
In one sense, abortion is inevitable in a society that rejects its Christian heritage. Human sacrifice was common and universal in pre-Christian times, as it is in post-Christian times with abortion. Original sin created such vile in the human heart that killing the innocent became a common way of cathartically soothing it. Christ willingly became […]... Read More
What Abortion is NOT
Leftist media, especially in this political season, are confusing people by calling 'abortion' acts that are not abortion. It is imperative we understand the difference.... Read More
The One Mediator: What Does it Mean that Jesus is the Only Way to God?
The Holy Father has recently been the cause of another controversy, seeming to indicate all religions are ways to God. Let's go a little beneath the surface.... Read More
Falsehood Leads to Two Extremes
It’s interesting that today’s post-Christian agnosticism holds two extremes with regard to the afterlife: there is no Heaven and everyone goes to Heaven. In other words, nobody goes there and everyone goes there. But this is the normal pattern that results from holding onto an erroneous premise. Some other examples: Modern societies that do not […]... Read More
What exactly are they celebrating?
Today is the solemnity of the beheading of John the Baptist; a very important witness for our time. As the precurser of Jesus, John was martyred for pointing out the illicit union and invalid marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodius. According to today’s gospel, both were offended by John’s words. But notice their different reactions: […]... Read More
The Tragic Error of the Pro-Life Movement
The fundamental error that guarantees abortion will continue indefinitely.... Read More
The disordered idea of eliminating ‘disorder’
Our age is marked by eliminating 'disorder' from our psyches.... Read More
The Irrational Minds of Rational Creatures
This life is infinitely smaller than a drop of water in the never ending ocean of eternity. Yet, what percentage of our thoughts and attention focus on the temporal and worldly? It makes no sense. To test this hypothesis, count the conversations you hear today that relate to earthly and temporal things vs. unchanging truth […]... Read More
Why do Catholics venerate Mary?
There are many reasons. But here is one angle: God’s original command was to Adam. The “nchsh” (interpreted ‘serpent’ and ‘dragon’ in Scripture) at Eden can be interpreted as a demonic threatening force. From this perspective: Eve persuaded Adam to save himself at the expense of humanity (Gn 3:6). Mary persuaded Jesus to begin the […]... Read More
Is the GOP a Pro-Life Party?
While the GOP is a giant leap closer to justice than the party of death on government’s obligation to protect the most vulnerable, they’ve got a long way to go. For justice to prevail, three general principles of reason, confirmed by science, must be realized and fully embraced: . 1) All human beings, whose lifecycle […]... Read More