Praying and Running

I have been stunned every time the Holy Father has spoken. Usually it is because he has a way of communicating the truths and nuances of our faith in a way that always resonates with me. The faith, as Pope Benedict XVI conveys it, always seems so simple, beautiful and undeniably true. However, today I am stunned by his resignation. As much as I am stunned, I am saddened. I have great admiration and respect for the Pope and as I stated above he has always spoken in a way that really "speaks to me", so to speak. I believe Pope Benedict XVI was exactly the right Pope for where we are, both the Church and humanity as a whole, at this point in history not only because he spoke, taught, and lived the truth of our faith unapologetically, but also because he was very effective at being able to communicate that truth. Even though I am saddened that we will be losing this Pope, I have always believed in the supernatural guidance of the Church and therefore I must look with Hope and J...

I have never been a person to pray for specific favors. It never felt right to me. My prayers generally are for strength, guidance, an acceptance of what comes my way. That is always how I "felt" right praying. To pray for a specific favor like a good grade, to do well in some competition and things like that just always felt a little wrong and to pray for physical healing was something I never would have considered. I am not saying this was any kind of selflessness. I am not sure exactly what it was. A fear of seeming childish or perhaps it was out of fear that my faith would be shaken if the prayer wasn't answered. Regardless, this is how I generally pray. And that is not to say that I don't or didn't think that God doesn't concretely answer prayers. I believe that He does. For instance I have always prayed when overwhelmed something like "God, I cannot do this all alone, please help me" and I will somehow, someway find my way through whatever it...

Easter is not over! Lent, our preparation for Easter, lasts for 40 days. For 40 days we deny ourselves everything from candy to hot showers and even sleep. We are putting aside our creature comforts in order to bare our souls and make room for a greater relationship with our Lord. So intent, somber and focused is our preparation that even at Mass we omit the beautiful music of the Gloria and the Alleluia before the Gospel. The point is, Lent is a time of long and intense preparation for Easter. So we spend all of this time, 40 days (46 counting the Sundays and Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday), preparing for the joy of Easter. When Easter Sunday comes in the church the penitential purple of Lent is taken down and replaced with the gold that signifies the great celebration that is the Easter Season. What you will notice for the next 50 days when you are in church is that the gold remains. The church will remain decorated with the gold of...

This Advent I have been thinking a lot about "the inn keeper". As we read in the Gospel of Luke and as most people are aware Jesus was born while Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem. At that time many people were traveling to the towns of their ancestors to comply with an order for a census. In other words, it was a very busy time. Because of this busyness of the situation and all of the extra people that had to be accommodated no one had room for the Holy Family. Instead, Jesus, our Lord and our God made in human flesh, was born in a stable amid animals and filth. I guess that people relegated Him to the stable because they could not recognize Him. I guess they could not recognize Him because they were not looking for Him but instead they were preoccupied with everything going on around them. I know that people are as familiar with that part of the story as I have always been. But I have never really considered the other peo...

One great thing about being  Catholic is there are a whole lot of cool words that you get to use. One of my favorites is doxology. The word doxology alone just sounds really neat. But doxology is itself also something pretty awesome when you think about it. After all, doxology is a hymn of praise usually directed toward the Holy Trinity and usually affirming the infinite quality of God. Catholics will recognize a few standard doxologies like the "Glory be" and the "Through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever." that the priest prays before the Great Amen of the Eucharistic Prayer during Mass. But why do I think that doxologies are so great? As we learn from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 45, "Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness".  Heaven is where we will be in communion with God fully. Heaven then, is what man was ma...

A homily that I heard once and some wisdom from an old friend I think really put the Mass and our participation in the Mass into perspective. I remember the homily began by the priest telling us that our parish had lost a family to a non-denominational church down the road. He said that this family actually came to him and said they were leaving and going to this other church for two reasons. The first was that the music was better. The second reason was because they didn't feel like they got anything out of Mass. At this point I remembered something a friend once said that made a lasting impact on me. She said essentially, "I don't come to Mass for the music or for the homily or for anything other than Jesus. I come because Jesus is here in the Eucharist." I wish that those people had known my friend. Because there is no where that you can go to be so close to our Lord as you are when you receive Holy Communion at Mass. The priest reiterated this sentiment and th...

I've been reflecting on the book of Judges lately. One recurring theme from this book is that in those times there was no king and every man did what he thought best. This seems to lead directly to the other theme which was that man kept falling into depravity and causing a divide between Israel and God. I love looking at the Old Testament through the lens of Christ and the Church. I see this as a clear foreshadowing of the Papacy and the moral authority of the Magisterium of the Church. The connotation being that we need one clear leader to guide us in matters of faith and morals and not every person running around deciding what they think is best. I wonder if any of my Catholic friends have made this connection as well and I wonder how my protestant friends interpret this.