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It is 1963, and British-born race car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale), his wife, Mollie (Caitriona Balfe), and son, Peter (Noah Jupe), face ruin when the IRS closes his auto garage.
The odds were against Kayla McKeon, but that never slowed her down. She now serves as the national spokesperson for the Down syndrome community.
How can I attend Sunday Mass when the readings and homilies make me question my faith? I love the Catholic Church, the faith in which I was brought up, the Eucharist, the hymns, buildings, and statues. As soon as the readings begin or the homily starts, however, I begin to struggle with my faith. I want to believe and be a good Catholic. I have not been attending Mass for some time now, but I would like to return. What can I do?
According to your Saint of the Day online entry for September 2 (John Francis Burt and three other Franciscans), these priests were martyred for their faith because they refused to swear allegiance to the “Civil Constitution of the Clergy. ” I think it’s a gross exaggeration to say that Constitution was an attack on the Catholic faith. I see it as more an attack on the papacy and having more to do with politics than with faith.
Two family members have been asked to be godparents for a Baptism in the Russian Orthodox Church. Does the Catholic Church permit this?
It is not a problem as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, but the Russian Orthodox Church may see it differently; their practice on this needs to be respected.
Think of someone you truly love or have loved. What is the power of that love that draws you to that person? Do you love that person because you have to or because you want to? Does the attraction of love with that person draw you beyond yourself in such a way that if you stopped loving that person, something real and tangible would die, perhaps the spiritual bond of love between you? If you have had an experience of love, then you have had some insight into the Trinity of love. In fact, by loving another person you have been—yes, believe it or not—caught up in the Trinity of love.
If God is love and it is love that brings us to birth, then it is difficult to conceive of the Incarnation, the Word made flesh, in any other way but the way of love. Love is what brought this creation into being and love is what will bring creation to its fulfillment to celebrate and participate in the eternal love of the Trinity. How love completes that which is brought into being is the story of Jesus, is the story of us humans, and is the story of the whole evolutionary creation itself. Jesus, the Trinity of love, and the universe story belong together.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
—John 1:14
The idea of “bending over” or “bending down” reminds me of the days when I took care of my nephew when he was just a baby. I recall moments when I would see him lying in his oversized crib—a tiny creature with hands and feet waving in the air, totally helpless. I would bend down into the crib and lift him high up in the air and he would smile uncontrollably, as only an infant can. The humility of God is something like the baby in the crib.
Go and tell my servant David…“Are you the one to build me a house to live in?”… I took you from the pasture,…I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name,… I will appoint a place for my people Israel,… the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house…. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.
—2 Samuel 7:5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16
