Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your […]
When the Crib and the Cross Converge: Our Personal Adoption Story
The minute the judge walked into the courtroom on December 5, I knew I was in trouble. What I had envisioned as a measured ritual of signing papers at the courthouse became an extremely emotional event when the judge, who surprisingly was a family friend, swore us in and asked […]
Fitting Through the Narrow Gate: Feeding the False Self As A Sign of the Times
Strive to enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14 It’s […]
When Death Births Life: St. Bryce Missions Grew Out of A Family’s Grief
“I went to the jungle thinking I was going to grieve, but God brought me there to heal,” author and full-time missionary Colleen C. Mitchell said as she sat on a stool in my kitchen, watching me prepare a pot of Crayfish Étouffée. Mitchell and I had met only a […]
Is God Good All The Time? Or Only When We Feel Blessed?
Forty thousand Louisiana families lost their homes last week to what is being called the “Great Flood,” and the devastation these families are facing will take years to recover from. Meanwhile, I’m reading posts on Facebook that are saying things like: “God is so good! He spared our home. We […]
Why Mercy Makes Us Uncomfortable
In his second Encyclical, Dives in Misericordia…Saint John Paul II highlighted the fact that we had forgotten the theme of mercy in today’s cultural milieu: “The present day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to […]
Saved by the Mercy of a Stranger
We cannot escape the Lord’s words to us, and they will serve as the criteria upon which we are judged: whether we have fed the hungry and given drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger and clothed the naked, or spent time with the sick and those in prison […]
Pentecost Just Passed and I’m Burning to Death: Is It Possible To Do Purgatory On Earth?
Have you ever had a magnanimous moment where you begged for the fire of God’s love to consume you, only to find in short order that it’s burning the hell out of you? Literally. Somehow, I’m always surprised when I pray for holy fire to fall, and its flames begin […]
Giving What Is Holy To Dogs
The Spouse of Christ must pattern her behaviour after the Son of God who went out to everyone without exception. Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, par. 12 Sitting in our gloriously sunny, tranquil parish adoration chapel, I had just finished underlining a very beautiful section of Deus Caritas Est (God Is […]
Being Pro-Life In A Pro-Choice Political Dynasty
We must admit that the practice of mercy is waning in the wider culture. In some cases the word seems to have dropped out of use. However, without a witness to mercy, life becomes fruitless and sterile, as if sequestered to a barren desert. Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, para. 10 […]