Very good news! Not only is Abrego Garcia alive, Salvadoran authorities, reversing their initial refusal, allowed him to meet with Senator Van Hollen, who called Abrego Garcia’s wife to “pass along his message of love.” The police-state machine blinking in the harsh light of global scrutiny?
“The one and only good is to love God with your whole heart and to be poor in spirit here below.”
- St. Thérèse of Lisieux
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New Catholics - Good Friday service has a collection each year which directly benefits the Church in the Holy Land, including medical care, education, upkeep of the holy sites, etc.
War has limited & stretched their resources.
Please prayerfully give if you go.
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Notes have become the playground of my writing. Sometimes an article gets started and then gets revised as I fine tune what I’m trying to say. The picture in this case is one that I took when I was at Christ The Good Shepherd in Saginaw, MI. One of many pictures I have in my collection.
The story of Good Friday is in one sense the most typical story of all: an authoritarian regime putting to death anyone who dares dissent, religious leaders more concerned with their own power than the truth, people eager to spit on anyone who calls out their hypocrisy.
Yet, it is also the strangest story of all: how an unjust act led to …
It may seem irreverent to suggest, but I think it’s in part human. I wonder if Christ, while asking the apostles to prepare the feast for the last supper, might have taken to a rest (nap). Knowing he needed the energy and that he could rely on his Apostles to follow instructions, it would make sense.
Either way, not being the same thing, I think I’m going to follow suit with this idea before the 4 parishes I oversee celebrate Triduum. :)
The line in this interview that resonated with me the most:
“The heart demands redemption.”
Praise God it’s coming soon❤️
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I’m delighted to share this with you: an excerpt from one of the five pieces of my own writing I’m proudest of! The essay, written for Kenneth R. Morefield’s book on the Arts & Faith Top 100 Films, deals with The Song of Bernadette and Jessica Hausner’s 2009 Lourdes. This excerpt isn’t about film, but about the epistemology of miracles a…
I got my first “fan” who was really just a pr0n account trolling for followers. Blocked and reported, as they say. That kind of garbage will bring the site down faster than anything else. Keep it out of Substack. And if you're engaging in this kind of behavior, you need to start praying that Jesus shows you a better way to use the gifts he gave you.
“He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:8-11)
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“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament...There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth..."—J.R.R. Tolkien to his son Michael, March 1941
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35 (NASB95)
A blessed Maundy Thursday to all!
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This month I’ll be a priest for 13 years, and celebrating the Lords Supper today, where the ministerial priesthood was instituted, has given me some thoughts.
Sin is a rejection of intimacy/communion with Christ. Judas had already arranged Christ’s betrayal, and his mind was so warped that he could not intuit the generosity of the Lords gift at this Table. Other things took up his mind in such a way - such as money and politics - that he couldn’t ground his mind in the morally sane principle of …
Around here there is a tradition of walking up a certain hill on Good Friday. Nowadays many people walk to the 19th century tower built to commemorate Robert Peel, the man who invented the modern police force, but lots still walk over to the site of a medieval cross on the Moor. This was a pilgrims’ cross, but my suspicion is (there is p…
“These three events in our Lord’s life—the Last Supper, the crucifixion and the resurrection—form a single redemptive act, which we call the Paschal Mystery. In the same way, ‘Though chronologically three days,’ the three days of the Paschal Triduum ‘are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.’ Likewi…
Commentaries on the Letter of Jude are more interesting than you might expect. There’s a lot going on in these 459 words. F’rinstance, Jude 9 is a real rabbit hole: ”But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounc…
You always own your intellectual property, mailing list, and subscriber payments. With full editorial control and no gatekeepers, you can do the work you most believe in.
Heading to the parish early to go to confession before Holy Thursday Mass. Pray that the Holy Spirit would illumine my heart to know my sins so I may confess well. Let us prepare to keep the New Passover with Jesus, the Lamb of God, as we enter into the Sacred Triduum—the holiest time of the year. By God’s grace, may our reliving the events of the Paschal Mystery change us for the better.
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Luke 23:42
This is a phrase that has been in my mind all week heading into Easter. Something that I’ve been reflecting on in my own journey in this Catholic faith.
This moment that is recorded deals with the two thieves that are on the Cross with Christ at the crucifixion. One who mocks Christ for being there. The other with a more repentant heart. As he pleads for his soul.
How many times can we see ourselves in both thieves on the Cross? I …
Our littles still have trouble making it through the Holy Thursday liturgy, so we turn our living room into a garden to keep vigil with the Lord at home.
We put sleeping bags out for the kids so they can just fall asleep there while we pray. They look forward to it every year (as do I).
Have a blessed and prayerful Triduum, see you at Easter!
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According to some folks on social media, educated people don't believe in 'fairy tales'
The data says: Someone with a masters degree is just as likely to believe there is life after death as someone who didn't finish high school.
ReLiGiOn iS tHe oPiAtE oF tHe mAsSeS, amirite?
You made it, you own it
You always own your intellectual property, mailing list, and subscriber payments. With full editorial control and no gatekeepers, you can do the work you most believe in.
Don’t insult Abrego Garcia’s wife and children by pretending you don’t know that if Trump wanted to undo the “erroneous” deportation, he could do it with a phone call.
As I walk my neighborhood here in Arizona I see many of my neighbors flying the American Flag in support of Labor Day. It makes me wonder and want to ask them, "So as a proud American Patriot supporting Labor Day does that mean your a union supporters and also have concerns for those immigrants here that are doing the hard work in our agriculture industry, landscaping industry, manual labor ( construction, remodeling, etc... ) industries, child care services and the many other services that they perform for us???
I live in rural Arizona and I see the American flag being flown often right next to the Trump flags, I take it to mean they're proud to live in America where they can turn the country into a dictatorship and a third world failed nation.