I have been away from the church for a few years and really want to get active again, not so much for me, but for my children. Is this a bad reason to come back to church? If you are on your way to the supermarket, and you are forced to detour from your...
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With Christmas fast approaching, can you give me some practical tips to prepare myself and my family that will help us “stay grounded” in what this holiday is really about? With all the commercialism, it’s easy to stray… Happy times and events bring fond memories and a renewed sense of love and kinship with...
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2 Samuel 5:1-3;  Colossians 1:12-20;  Luke 23:35-43 “This is the King of the Jews.” So read the inscription over the head of Jesus as he hung upon the cross, naked, beaten, bleeding, and dying for all the world to see.  The inscription was a form of mockery by the Roman procurator.  The people who were...
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    . recorded April 10, 2008 I read in the diocesan newspaper that the bishop made an ad limina visit to Rome. What does ad limina mean? The term ad limina is a Latin phrase meaning “to the threshold.” It refers to the pilgrimage that bishops are required to make every five years...
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Malachi 3:19-20:2; II Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19 When Solomon’s Temple was destroyed in the year 70, people thought the world was coming to an end, and believers began looking for Christ’s second coming.  When it became evident that Christ was not going to come immediately, Luke wrote Jesus’ end-time teachings in his Gospel, one...
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My neighbor’s five-year-old child was very sick and in danger of death. Would the priest have given the child the sacrament of the sick? Dealing with a child’s illness is a very difficult time for parents and families. Rarely do they think ahead to the possibility of death, so sacramental ministry often happens in...
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Wisdom 11:22-12:2;  2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2;  Luke 19:1-10 The human mind cannot fully grasp, let alone even begin to comprehend the vastness of the universe.  When we contemplate the heavens, the moon and the stars, we can become overwhelmed with the enormity of space.  Our own Milky Way is a galaxy with billions of stars...
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2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14;  2 Thessalonians 2:16–3:5;  Luke 20:27-38 What happens when you die?  This is a question that has been pondered, puzzled over and debated from the time that humanity began to walk on the face of this earth.  This is the question that lies at the heart of the exchange between Jesus and...
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Is it wrong to go to someone who claims to speak to the dead? I’ve been invited to go to see a medium and am not sure if I should. The Bible is very clear that consulting with ghosts and spirits or seeking oracles from the dead are an abomination to the Lord. According...
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I have struggled with the right words to say to friends and relatives during times of grief. From a Catholic perspective, what is really appropriate to say in times of grief? Death is something that our culture does not handle well. We tend to shrink away from it and often see it more as...
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