We say this all the time, but do you ever stop to think what we are actually saying when we speak this phrase? What do these three words actually mean? Read More
love | Deacon Allen Tatara Catholic Speaker - Part 16
On the Inside; On the Outside
“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come around, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”
~Charles Dickens Read More
How do you express your joy? Do you clap your hands, laugh loudly scream out, or react with a gesture? In our Gospel today, the infant John “leaped for joy.” John, in his mother’s womb, expressed an emotional and physical reaction.
Elizabeth experienced a jump in her womb and Luke relates it to John’s recognition of Jesus. This beautifully captures the emotion and feeling of that meeting between the two pregnant women. Read More
It’s June, and everything is green. We’re into the growing season, and so everywhere you look you see signs of green growth. And speaking of growth, with today being Father’s Day, I can’t help but to reflect on how my three sons have grown so quickly over the years. Read More
The apostles were commissioned by Jesus to be his witnesses to the world. But as soon as Jesus leaves them, they go to their upper room and hide themselves. And we are left only to imagine what they talked about in that room. Someone may have said that there was no way that they could afford to go into the entire world. Someone else may have suggested that it was dangerous to leave that upper room, for who would do the work if they were killed or thrown in prison. Perhaps another disciple said that they were no good at evangelism, or they were too old, too tired, or too poorly educated to speak of what moves them towards God. That upper room must have felt so safe, so comfortable. They were afraid of the Jews. They knew that the people did not like them. They knew that their message was different than the popular message of the time, and they just felt like not going out to face the hostile society. Read More
This reflection comes from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis:
A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble – because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ himself carried out. Read More
As I was sifting through our pile of mail, I picked up our copy of U.S. Catholic. I casually flipped open the magazine, and my eyes zoned onto this quote:
