Tag: Faith

Putting Christ First

Many people are looking forward to the 2016 summer Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this August. One of the greatest stories in Olympic history occurred in Paris in 1924. A young man from Scotland named Eric Liddell was...

Death is an Uncomfortable Subject

In the First Book of Kings (17:17-24) and the Gospel of Luke (7:11-17), we hear the stories of two mothers, who were both widows, losing their only son. In both stories, the young men were raised from the dead, restored to life and returned to their...

The Ideal Disciple

Come to think of it, to illustrate in fitting fashion the most earthshaking event in the history of humankind ever, the Church should have picked an Easter gospel passage that conveyed clearly and unequivocally the Resurrection of Jesus from the...

Swimming Against the Tide

Once there was a farmer who wanted to teach his twelve-year-old son how to plow a field one spring day.  This happened over a hundred years ago, before there were tractors or other mechanical devices; a plow would be hitched up to a horse, and the...

The Cross and the Flag?

In the November wake of 9/11, I bought a small lapel pin at the St. Patrick Cathedral gift shop in New York City.  It depicted a small cross and an American flag, leaning on each other at a 45-degree angle. The pin beautifully linked these two...

Faith was Never Meant to be Painless and Predictable

The newly-released movie The Walk tells the true story of an acrobat, or high-wire performer, who in 1974 illegally rigged a wire between the two towers of the former World Trade Center in New York City and then, a quarter-mile high off the ground...

How Closely Do We Follow Him?

After reading the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John and reflecting on Jesus as the Bread of Life that the Father has given to his adopted children, it is time to draw some vital conclusions. What the risen Lord teaches us is something that is...

Why Do We Seek the Lord?

As I grow older, I notice that the Holy Spirit is working quietly in me to make me realize that, in fooling myself, (alas, something which I do often) at times, I try also the impossible: I try to fool God or, at least, I try to slip a fast one past...