When I was in the seminary in the 1970s, two other seminarians and I journeyed down to the well-known monastery of Gethsemane near Bardstown, Kentucky, run by the Cistercian Order—more commonly known as the Trappist monks. The monastery of...
Fr Joseph Esper
Michael BaglinoRecent Essays
Fr Dino Vanin
Deacon Gregory Webster
Paul Suski
Reflections- From Our Archives
Overhauling Our Hearts
Our readings for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time call us to a painful overhaul of our heart. It is always painful to probe the recesses of the heart because whatever we find in it might flatten our presumptions and...
Fr Mario Attard OFM CapWould You Let Them Drink Poison?
In a recent Sunday Gospel reading, Jesus reminded us that the gate into heaven is a narrow one. (Luke 13) The reading made me uncomfortable. The Church tells us that sin requires an element of knowing that we are doing...
Conversion Leads Us To Commmunity
There was once a movie called Shadow of the Hawk, in which a young couple and their Indian guide were hurrying up a mountainside, fleeing from evil people seeking to kill them. Because the Indian guide knew the...
Giving High Praise For Small Things
Our society, someone has declared, is suffering from “jumboitis”. We need the biggest military, the biggest car, the biggest guns, the biggest house, the biggest business, and so forth. We’ve got...
Fr Charles Irvin
Deacon Donald CoxDo We Really Want To Change?
The basic message of Luke’s Gospel account for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time is that Jesus went into Zacchaeus’ house and Zacchaeus ended up going into God’s house. The message in all three of today’s scripture...
Msgr John KaszaA Time For Transformation
The readings for the Second Sunday of Lent (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; 2 Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28-36) are the oldest we will hear during this holy season. Their use by the Church goes back nearly one thousand, seven...
Deacon Steve Greco
Thomas Addis
Does He Reign In Our Hearts?
During World War II, shortly after Germany invaded and conquered the country of Yugoslavia in 1941, a young German soldier named Josef Schultz was summoned by his sergeant, along with seven other soldiers. They were...
David SeitzAll Essays
Anti-Catholicism in the Academy
What are the philosophies, and who were the philosophers most influential in the current anti-Christian influence upon American college students? Two come to mind: Antonio Gramsci and Herbert Marcuse. They are still...
Sometimes Criticism is Part of Our Christian Duty
Jesus talks about the need that sometimes arises for us to correct other people—and this is something many of us find difficult or unpleasant. It can be hard to find the right balance between the extremes of saying...
Filled With Joyous Expectations
The prophet Isaiah (55:8-9) reminds us how we little creatures are often marred by pettiness: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways like your ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high...
Carolyn Humphreys, O.C.D.S.Believe in Miracles
“Amen I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.” (Mark 11:23) The Lord’s...
Jennifer Borek
Divergence in Daycare
Before proceeding, let me clarify the purpose of this reflection. Daycare in a time of genuine economic need is not the issue under consideration. Many families depend upon two incomes simply to afford housing, food...
Things Are Never Quite As They Seem
In 1896 a German immigrant to the United States, a man named Emmanuel Ninnger, paid for his purchases in a grocery store with a $20 bill. The sales clerk counted out the change, but after the customer left, noticed some...
Br Matthew Marie, OSB
The Saints Teach Us About Mary
“If we had a mother who was a queen, would we not be proud of it? Well, we have a Mother who is Queen of Heaven.” (St. Louis de Montfort) St. John Vianney (1786-1859) wrote many beautiful things about his...
James S. AndersonThe Case Against Evangelism
At one time, evangelism, converting those outside the Church, was our most difficult and potentially rewarding task. For many on fire with the Faith it was the frontline of spiritual warfare and perhaps the most...
Tom Borek
