By Russell Shaw
As thousands of pro-life demonstrators fill the streets of downtown Washington Jan. 24 for the annual March for Life, optimism and uncertainty will both be present in abundance.
1/2/20
Reading Time
3
min
By Russell Shaw
In one of his Christmas sermons, St. John Henry Newman speaks of Christmas as “a time for innocence and purity and gentleness and mildness and contentment and peace.”
12/19/19
Reading Time
3
min
By Salvatore J. Ciresi
“The Historicity of the Gospels” (1964), written by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the body charged with overseeing the proper interpretation of Scripture, states in the third paragraph: “The work of exegetes is all the more necessary today because many writings in circulation question the truth of the events and sayings reported in the Gospels.” The “exegetes” in view are primarily the trained interpreters of Scripture. However, biblical interpretation is undertaken practically by all Catholics: the scholar writing for an academic journal, the cleric preaching on the readings at Mass, the catechist during religious instruction and the mother reading a bedtime Bible story to her children. Each scenario may lead to the question: Are the Gospels reliable? This is a legitimate query.
12/18/19
Reading Time
3
min
By Joseph M. Rampino
This Sunday places before our eyes the image of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and while we might immediately leap into beautiful meditations on the virtues of that home, on the lessons of their lives, and on how we might imitate their example, we ought not miss the astonishing truth contained in the bare fact that we can celebrate this feast at all.
12/18/19
Reading Time
3
min
By Elise Italiano Ureneck
While I can rattle off a long list of positive things about being raised in the Northeast (the quality of bagels, access to cultural events in big cities and proximity to the ocean top the list), an honest assessment would include some downsides. The most glaringly obvious one is that for most of my life I've been conditioned to be completely and totally impatient.
12/18/19
Reading Time
3
min
By Elizabeth Foss
Someone recently sent me screenshots of a Facebook conversation on a public forum and asked my opinion. I scrolled through — horrified — and had so many things to say.
12/18/19
Reading Time
3
min
By Fr. James Hudgins
When John the Baptist preached by the Jordan river, he proclaimed with boundless confidence that Jesus was the promised Messiah of Israel. Crowds came streaming from Jerusalem to hear him speak. In those days, it must have seemed like the kingdom of God would appear on earth at any moment. But things did not turn out as everyone imagined. John was now in prison for telling King Herod that he was wrong to divorce his wife and marry another. John the Baptist had once proclaimed that the Messiah would depose worldly tyrants. Now, John is a prisoner of the very sort of tyrant the Messiah should have deposed, and this fact nearly strains John’s faith to the breaking point.
12/11/19
Reading Time
3
min
By
A reader shares how a dedicated altar server inspires him.
12/10/19
Reading Time
2
min
By Sister Constance Veit
I had just begun my initiation to religious life when a very kind Little Sister offered to share with me the secret to joy. JOY, she confided, is a matter of putting Jesus first, Others second and Yourself last.
12/10/19
Reading Time
3
min
Remember Joseph
This last Sunday of Advent, our Gospel presents the annunciation of the birth of the Messiah. While Luke focuses on Archangel Gabriel appearing to Mary, Matthew focuses on Joseph. And, I think for good reason. Sometimes we forget Joseph. Oftentimes he looks like a tired, old man. Or worse, he is excluded. I remember receiving a Christmas card with a portion of a famous painting: Depicted were baby Jesus, Mary, and a shepherd, and then there was an arm — poor Joseph had been cut out.