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The Hospitable Habit
Susan Muto Comments Off on The Hospitable Habit
Hospitable words like hospice, hostel and host address our heart’s longing to be a welcome space for anyone suffering from hunger of body or sickness of soul. Priests know intuitively that all those entrusted to their care desire to be respected and treated with dignity, charity and the milk of human kindness. The virtue of Read More
Assistants to the Divine Physician
Mary Healy Comments Off on Assistants to the Divine Physician
Father George Stewart was feeling stuck. He had already been a priest for 21 years when he was assigned as pastor of St. Augustine – Our Lady of Victory in the Bronx. But in this impoverished inner-city parish, none of his usual bag of tricks seemed to work. He promoted Eucharistic adoration, organized parish pilgrimages, Read More
‘Neither Moth nor Decay’
Father Eugene Hensell Comments Off on ‘Neither Moth nor Decay’
The following brief comment appears toward the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:21). The Sermon on the Mount is understood by many Christians to be, in effect, a handbook for how to live in the kingdom of heaven. A key principle Read More
January’s Beginning, Again and Again
Father G. David Bline Comments Off on January’s Beginning, Again and Again
“Don’t despair over your shortcomings. Start over each day. You make spiritual progress by beginning again and again.” — St. Francis de Sales So why is it that January always seems to be about beginnings, or perhaps, more accurately, the beginning again and again? Even if it is a cultural expectation for us to make Read More
Reflecting on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Father James Korda Comments Off on Reflecting on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Great discoveries often happen by chance. It was Sunday, Jan. 19, 1986, the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It also happened to be my first pulpit exchange at the neighboring Evangelical Lutheran Church. The path to what would eventually lead me to a key awakening in my life began even sooner Read More
Guadalupan Motherhood Forming Priestly Fatherhood
Father Kenneth Davis Comments Off on Guadalupan Motherhood Forming Priestly Fatherhood
Almost 30 years of my ministry has been dedicated to priestly formation. I’ve offered retreats and spiritual direction to priests around the country. I’ve lectured at seminaries in foreign countries. And I’ve served in five different seminaries here in the United States. Today, I tell seminarians I no longer feel paternal affection for them. Now Read More
Sharing Hope with the Hopeless
Paul E. Jarzembowski Comments Off on Sharing Hope with the Hopeless
Perhaps this scene is familiar to you: It’s Christmas Eve and, looking out into a packed assembly, you recognize many faces but several that are unknown to you. Perhaps they are family members of active parishioners in town for the holidays. However, more often than not, they are either Catholics on the parish registration list Read More
Thanksgiving as a Way of Life
Father Carmen Mele Comments Off on Thanksgiving as a Way of Life
Seminaries were not immune to the turmoil in society and the Church during the 1970s. Seminarians, increasingly beginning formation at older ages, brought radical ideas from universities and workplaces. Some wanted to change the world from the top down. They became impatient with a Church that seemed to pander to members whose practice of faith Read More