Prayer
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
Fulfilled in Your Hearing
Father Ronald Patrick Raab Comments Off on Fulfilled in Your Hearing
In Luke’s Gospel, Christ restores hope for people in poverty and anguish, and even nourishes us sinners who preach this good news. Our attentive ears benefit from Luke’s narrative that the Incarnation of Christ transforms our losses, aches and arrogance. When the Gospel is proclaimed at the celebration of the Eucharist, we encounter the real Read More
Praying and Preaching the ‘Gap’
Msgr. Michael Heintz Comments Off on Praying and Preaching the ‘Gap’
I am currently enjoying Marilynne Robinson’s “Reading Genesis” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29), which has served as a prompt for this column. While one need not agree with every interpretive suggestion Robinson makes, her beautiful prose and trenchant insights bring to the fore the loyalty of God to his creatures, despite their moral ambiguity and Read More
Friendship with Christ
Deacon James Keating Comments Off on Friendship with Christ
“We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires. We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An ‘adult’ faith is not a faith Read More
Resting in Jesus
Patricia Sharbaugh Comments Off on Resting in Jesus
In a published sermon entitled “The Birth,” writer, theologian and Presbyterian minister Frederick Buechner, imaginatively tells the story of Jesus’ birth from the point of view of the innkeeper. The innkeeper recognizes that, because he turned the Holy Family out into the night telling them that there was no room for them in his inn, Read More
Cultural Illusions and Prayer
Father Richard M. Gula Comments Off on Cultural Illusions and Prayer
Prayer opens us to the presence of God, allowing us to create and sustain a resilient intimacy with God — an intimacy that makes our relationship to God the most important one in our life. Sustaining and deepening that relationship is the core energy of the spiritual life. “Pray from where you are” is good Read More
Focus on What Is Essential
Bishop David J. Bonnar Comments Off on Focus on What Is Essential
I remember having a trying day many years ago when I worked in the chancery in a leadership position. I shared my frustrations with a seasoned co-worker nearing the sunset of her career. She listened attentively to my angst. Then she said, “Dave, just try and focus on that which is essential.” Her words were Read More
Hearing God’s Voice
Father Michael Ackerman Comments Off on Hearing God’s Voice
As a child, I used to attend Mass with my paternal grandparents, who worshipped at a beautiful Church that sat high on a hill overlooking the city of Pittsburgh. One particular Sunday, the priest gave a homily talking about hearing the voice of God. I can remember him saying, “If you listen hard, God is Read More