Happy Easter! In fact, we are celebrating the Easter Octave all week–leading right up to Divine Mercy Sunday! So may the peace, joy and hope of the the Resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you today and always. Alleluia! Alleluia! Now that Lent is over though, you might be wondering, what’s next? How do I maintain the spiritual momentum I developed during Lent? Most days, we seem to live life in what seem to be “grey” areas, and it’s difficult to know if you’re doing well as a spouse, parent, friend, or a person. But if you are […]
holiness
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As we celebrate the Easter Octave, I wanted to share a reflection written by Eileen Keller, a friend from the Diocese of Charleston, SC, who has some beautiful advice about how we can continue to live out the joy, hope and peace of Easter. Enjoy! The Gospel of John 20:11-18 tells the account from Resurrection morning, where Mary Magdalene sits at the empty tomb, weeping in her grief. John tells us Jesus spoke and twice she turned. You could say she turned and re-turned. She didn’t recognize him. It was only when the second time he spoke to her that she heard him say her name, “Mary”, that she […]
Hey, Everyone! In case you were not aware, I am a HUGE fan of the work being done over at Voyage Comics. I made mention of one of their previous projects, The Monks of Skellig Michael, in a post a few weeks ago. (You can click here to see that post–Star Wars, Hope and Holy Week) Therefore, I wanted to share this message I received from Philip Kosloski about their latest project–a Joan of Arc comic book! If you are like me, you know how vitally important it is to support authentically Catholic projects that can inspire the hearts and […]
Happy Easter! The day is here! Our Lord IS Risen today! As you celebrate this great day, hopefully with your family and friends, I invite you to spend the less than 15 minutes it will take for you to listen to this MAGNIFICENT Easter message from Bishop Robert Barron. Bishop Barron nails it (pun intended!), and gives us three beautiful lessons for why this day should be the foundation of everything we do each and every day. https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/homily/three-easter-lessons/5116/ Enjoy this joyous day, and know of my prayers for you as I look forward to seeing you along the Way soon! […]
On this Holy Saturday, as we wait in silence by the tomb of our Lord, it can be difficult to understand that Jesus is actually still going about the work of His Father today. In fact, I would argue that the work He is “doing” today is just as important as the work He did leading up to His Passion and death–the work of bringing about the redemption of everyone. Yes, that’s right. Everyone. Because today, Jesus has “descended into hell.” This ancient homily from the 2nd century explains exactly what the Lord’s Descent into Hell did, as Jesus proclaims […]
Today is Wednesday of Holy Week, also traditionally known as “Spy Wednesday”, because this is the day that we read the Gospel account of Judas’s betrayal. I also read a brilliant article entitled,“How Judas is the Gollum of the Gospels” written by Philip Kosloski in which he presents a great case that Gollum represents the disciple, Judas, in the great fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Thinking further about the comparison of Gollum and Judas, I soberly realized that I can be a lot like Gollum, pursuing “my precious” (be it a promotion, a degree, […]
Ok, folks, I am just going to go all “fanboy” on you all for a moment, because I am ABSOLUTELY pumped after seeing the new Star Wars Episode IX trailer! (I included the link at the bottom of my post in case you haven’t seen it yet) Anyway, I have been a HUGE Star Wars fan since 1980 when I first saw The Empire Strikes Back. (That’s right, I didn’t see the original Star Wars movie until after I saw Empire, but that was because back “in the day”, you didn’t have the ability to watch a movie if you […]
I absolutely adore the changing of seasons, particularly as winter gives way to spring. The grass begins to green up, trees blossom and here in the South, azaleas bloom. If you are a golfer, or a fan of golf, blooming azaleas are a sign of another beautiful occurrence that happens every spring–the Masters. For those of you who may not be familiar, the Masters is the premiere professional golf tournament in the world played at one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world, Augusta National, in Augusta, Georgia. Augusta was designed and built by Bobby Jones, the first […]
The Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama is holding its first ever Eucharistic Congress this coming June 28-29. In anticipation, and to help prepare for the Congress, I was asked to speak about the Eucharist in Scripture and the many benefits of Eucharistic Adoration for benefit of the Our Lady of the Valley Charismatic Prayer Group. A link of that talk is posted below, or you can check it out on my personal FB page or the SayYesToHoliness FB page as well. Thanks much to Sergio Andrade for the video, and also to Blanca Mireles for the wonderful translation job she did […]
We stand at the advent of Passiontide–that often forgotten, but intense time that occurs just prior to the beginning of Holy Week. In some churches, all the statues and crucifixes are covered, and the absence of these signs make our worship space seem even more barren and forsaken. But that’s actually the point. Passiontide is about stripping away anything, even good things like a crucifix, that might prevent us from being open to entering into the darkness and hopelessness and abandonment of the Way of the Cross. And the Way of the Cross is becoming more apparent with each passing […]