by Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput Anything without heart, anything without love — and I mean politics, music, law, art, even religion —anything without love, no matter how brilliant, is finally inadequate and weak. At the end of the day, the human soul yearns to be loved, and to love in return. And it won’t settle for […]
Don’t just talk to the Paraclete. Listen to him! When you pray, consider how the life of childhood, which enabled you to realize deeply that you are a son of God, filled you with a filial love for the Father. Think how, before that, you have gone through Mary to Jesus, whom you adore as […]
In 1933, Saint Josemaria Escriva inscribed a now famous dedication in a book that many people have come to know and love, and to adapt as their own prayer: “May you seek Christ. May you find Christ. May you love Christ.” More than 80 years ago, Madrid was for St. Josemaria the place of a […]
“Christ plants the seeds one by one so that each Christian in his own setting can bear witness to the fruitfulness of the death and resurrection of the Lord.” St. Josemaria Escriva Christ is Passing By, no. 157 Saint Josemaria liked to apply our Savior’s image of Himself as a dying and rising seed directly […]
The Holy Thursday liturgy is very rich in content. It is the great day when the Holy Eucharist was instituted, a gift of heaven for mankind. It is also the day of the institution of the priesthood, a new divine gift that assures the real and effective presence of the Sacrifice of Calvary in all […]
Wednesday of Holy Week recalls the sad story of one who was an apostle of Christ, Judas. As St. Matthew tells us in his gospel: Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they […]
The Gospel of today’s Mass ends with the announcement that the apostles will desert Jesus during the Passion. When Simon Peter, filled with presumption, tells him that I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not […]
Yesterday we recalled Christ’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. A great crowd of his disciples and other persons acclaimed him as the Messiah and King of Israel. At the end of the day, exhausted, he returned to Bethany, a village close to the capital, where he was accustomed to stay on his visits to Jerusalem. A […]
Holy Week is beginning, and we recall Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. St. Luke tells us: As they approached Bethpage and Bethany, near the hill named after the Olive Trees, he sent two of his disciples telling them: Go to the village opposite you. As you enter, you will find a young donkey on which […]
Faith, hope, love: these are the supports of Joseph’s life and of all Christian lives. Joseph’s self-giving is an interweaving of faithful love, loving faith and confident hope. His feast is thus a good opportunity for us to renew our commitment to the Christian calling God has given each of us. When you sincerely desire […]
This greatest of all parables is a response to a complaint: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them’” (Lk 15:1-2). Jesus justifies the coming of “undesirables” to Him as a kind of long-overdue […]
The basic requirement for a good Confession is to have the intention of returning to God like the “prodigal son” and to acknowledge our sins with true sorrow before his representative, the priest. “To those who have been far away from the sacrament of Reconciliation and forgiving love I make this appeal: come back to […]
Act of Faith O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths […]
February 14, 2016, marks the 10th Anniversary of the St. Josemaria Institute. Our mission from day one: to promote the life and teachings of St. Josemaria Escriva, and to spread devotion to him to bring people closer to God. During our first decade, we have enjoyed: Living the liturgical seasons and feast days with St. Josemaria […]
For the 50th World Communications Day, Pope Francis issued a message titled Communication and Mercy: A Fruitful Encounter. He explains that: “The digital world is a public square, a meeting-place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks… It is not technology which determines whether or […]
“Jesus is passing by. How often have I marveled at this simple way of describing divine mercy! Jesus is headed somewhere, yet he is not too busy to spot human suffering.” St. Josemaria Escriva Christ is Passing By, no. 67 As a seminarian in Rome during the last ordinary Jubilee I remember browsing one afternoon […]
Traditionally a celebration of the consecrated life, the Feast of the Lord’s Presentation forms an especially meaningful moment in the Year of Consecrated Life proclaimed by the Holy Father (November 2014-February 2016). Pope Francis has invited religious and laity alike to cultivate a deep gratitude for a state of life which uniquely displays the work […]
We have very sadly gotten almost accustomed to saying God’s name in vain or hearing others do so. There is little reverence in the way people dress and behave at church. There is a loss of the sense of the sacred and of the reverence due to God.
For us Christians the fleetingness of our journey through life should be a spur to help us make better use of our time. It should never be a motive for fearing Our Lord, and much less for looking upon death as a disastrous and final end. Cf. Friends of God, no. 39 The Gospel for […]
In the sermon The Praise of Men, [1] after indicating that ridicule is a powerful weapon used by the devil, Blessed John Henry Newman describes a case in which it is the cause of much pain: when a person who had shunned religion turns by God’s grace back to the practice of religion and meets […]
