Most Recent Posts
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Why Is God Missing from Contemporary Culture?
You may have seen the recent information about the falling numbers of Americans who consider themselves Christian. The younger the group, the less they consider themselves Christian, even if they were baptized in the Church. The figure below is from an April 3, 2024 article in The Pillar. The main reason Catholics are outperforming our Protestant…
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In Praise of St. Augustine
Feast of St. Augustine, Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time, Year A: 1 Thes 1:1-5, 8b-10, Mt 23:13-22. Apart from St. Paul, it’s hard to think of a more pivotal early figure for the Roman Catholic Church than St. Augustine of Hippo. Even in the heady time of the late Patristic Age. Just…
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Discerning Spirits at the Desert Monastery
Sixteen miles northeast of the town of Abiquiú, New Mexico, just two and a half miles past the road to Georgia O’Keefe’s famous Ghost Ranch, is Forest Road 151. If you take this unassuming dirt road the length of its 13 miles, the sage, juniper, and cholla cactus flatland gives way to the red rock…
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My Soul Magnifies the Lord
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent, Year A: 1 Samuel 1:24-28, Luke 1:46-56. Today the Church reminds us how humanity has been working in concert with God, 1,000 years apart; specifically, how unlikely mothers bore a child who would be a special link for the people to their God (see readings). Hannah, the mother…
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Begging the Mystery to Emerge
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Advent, Year A: Song of Songs 2:8-14, Luke 1:39-45. Today’s readings are pregnant (pun intended) with the mystery of the divine waiting to burst forth. Both Old Testament and New present us with figures full of a happy anxiousness for meeting their ultimate love. In the Song of Songs,…
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From Genie God to Fantastic God
Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Advent, Year A: Isaiah 7:10-14, Luke 1:26-38. Today’s reading from Isaiah can come across as a little odd. Not the bit about the future Emmanuel, but the bit about Ahaz being offered whatever kind of sign he wants. As a kid, I read a lot of fairy tales from…
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Widows and Our Spiritual Family
Thursday in the Third Week of Advent, Year A: Isaiah 54:1-10, Luke 7:24-30. We are traveling today, so I have to keep this reflection short before we head to the airport, but I did want to write something about that venerated group in the Apostolic Age and the Patristic Age, but their role has faded…
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Considering St. John of the Cross
Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent, Year A: Isaiah 45:6C-8, 18, 21C-25, Luke 7:18B-23. I want to consider Saint John of the Cross in just a short reflection. I have always admired his writings. I am drawn to the mystical side of our faith, so forgotten and…