We Are All Called to Lives of Holiness
One of the most striking aspects of the Passion accounts is how largely alone Our Lord is in His final hours. Most of His beloved disciples, followers, and friends flee from Him and abandon Him in His hour of need. St. Peter goes so far as to deny Jesus three times in order to avoid …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: It’s Time to Stop Fleeing from the Cross"
St. Teresa of Calcutta is known for telling others to “love until it hurts.” Many of us find ourselves in situations in which loving until it hurts becomes obligatory such as when a loved one becomes ill or is dying. It is much more difficult to seek out pain in order to love, and yet, …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: Holiness and Loving Until It Hurts"
The last couple of months we had to place our adoption homestudy paperwork on hold while I dealt with gall bladder disease and my subsequent surgery. Today my surgeon cleared me to return to normal living and we are now focusing on finishing up our paperwork, so that we can have our homestudy home inspection …
Hi all! It has been a little while. Any regular readers probably noticed that I dropped off of the radar, including at Catholic Exchange. I've been battling rather painful gall bladder disease for the last 1.5 months. I had to go through a series of tests and finally see a surgeon when it was discovered …
I stood on a cold, frosty afternoon looking out the window at my daughter playing in the snow. She was bedecked head to toe with winter gear to protect her from the bitter wind, a wind she hardly noticed. Her fuchsia snow pants insulated her knees from the icy snow and she sat contentedly eating …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: On Being Human and the Need to Wonder"
During Advent and now the Christmas season, I have tried to spend time each day meditating on the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel and the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel. These three chapters are packed with significant events, responses, and depth on the part of the people involved and their encounter with God. Within …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: Let Christmas Teach Us to Make Haste in the Spiritual Life"
My writing has grown a bit sporadic again. I am preparing for my first comprehensive exam for my Master's in early January and I will begin my final semester of coursework before I complete my second comprehensive exam and go to thesis in the spring and summer. The next few months will be busy as …
Continue reading "Sporadic Blogging and Final Months of Master’s Degree"
We are now in the final days of Advent. These last days are a good time to fully prepare ourselves for the coming of Our Lord at Christmas. If we have not taken the time to enter into prayerful quiet, now is a good time to do so. If we do not enter into the …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: What Will We Give Jesus for His Birthday?"
Every year a discussion about the startling rise in suicide rates during the holidays makes national news. More often than not, the cause is relegated to mental illness, stress, or family situations. While all of these may be true, they betray a purely materialist view of the human person. Mental illness in itself is a …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: Seeing Our Neighbor and the Long Loneliness of December"
Today the Church celebrates the great Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It is the day we celebrate how Our Heavenly Mother was the first to receive the merits of her Divine Son’s Paschal Mystery. Unlike us, she was conceived without the taint of Eve’s sin coursing through her. Do we contemplate this great mystery? What …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: The Freedom of Mary’s Immaculate Conception"
Swimming the Depths 