The Church has one question for the world. It is a question asked of rich and poor, of the powerful and the weak, of those behind bars and those relaxing on the beach: Are you happy?
Read More ›
The Prodigal Son went out looking for heaven on earth. He was restless at home. He entertained a fantasy that things could be better elsewhere—in a faraway place, with different people, where he could be carefree, an anonymous rogue.
A friend of mine once told me: “You are never freer than when you are doing God’s will, and never less free than when you are doing your own.” There you have the Annunciation.
The devil’s “territory,” apart from those “kingdoms of the world” he claimed as his own when tempting Christ, might be difficult to map out—it was, after all, into the swept and tidied house that the unclean spirit returned with a company of devils worse than himself (cf. Lk 4:5; Mt 12:43-45).
As a teenager, St. Josemaria Escriva followed the normal course of a high school student. He aimed to be a good student, get excellent grades, and dreamed of being an architect. Becoming a priest was not what St. Josemaria had originally thought was for him.
God wants us to remember. Satan wants us to forget. By distractions, promises, and vanities Satan dupes us into forgetting how merciful God has been to us.
We are at the beginning of Lent: a time of penance, purification and conversion. It is not an easy program, but then Christianity is not an easy way of life.
St. Josemaria would invite people to take the Holy Family as their model and also to try their best, with daily self-giving, to make their family life into a foretaste of heaven.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are…. Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 Jn 3:1-2).
Whenever our Lady appears on earth it is to remind us of something that we are neglecting. She never comes to reveal something new, but to express in a new and forceful way what we should already know.
Sometimes when we hear the Gospel proclaimed at Mass we are so encouraged and consoled that we think: I cannot be lost. Other times we hear it and we might think: How will I ever be saved?
Jesus replied to Pilate’s questioning: My kingship is not of this world… At a later stage in the interview Jesus tells the Roman Procurator: I am a king. For this I was born… Although the Reign of Christ is not of this world, it has its beginnings here.
Christian identity begins and ends with childhood—the unique childhood of the children of God.
A reflection on love for the sacred liturgy must begin beneath an old tree.
In this paradise everyone feels free, at home, accepted, and loved in ways which far surpass whatever freedom, acceptance, or love we have ever experienced on earth. Here, we meet the saints as friends.
For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. St Teresa of Avila: The Book of Her Life, ch. 8, 5. Although we might associate St Teresa’s spirituality with the extraordinary—with her numerous visions, […]
St Josemaria often evokes images of fire and light to show how the Christian faith is spread from one heart to another.
Each generation should consider what it will leave to future ones: what we need to do, and how we need to do it, so that tomorrow’s world may be better than today’s.
Saints have the uncanny ability to startle us with their insights into the basic truths of our faith.
Learning to contemplate and to suffer in union with Christ is where we begin to experience our own resurrection. Suffering in union with Christ, we become free to love and to be loved in God’s way.