Christmas in the Holy Land
Greg Friedman, OFM
November 27, 2019
Visiting the birthplace of Jesus makes an indelible mark on pilgrims, who describe the experience as profound, peaceful, and joyful.
Find what you’re looking for
Search Results for: node – Page 625
Your Christmas Music Playlist
Daniel Imwalle
November 27, 2019
By the time you read this column, you might already be burned out on Christmas music, and we’re just now actually getting into the season!
Culture: Film Reviews
Rose Pacatte, FSP
November 27, 2019
Just Mercy
In 1988, Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an African American, was convicted of murdering an 18-year-old white woman. After a trial that lasted only a day and a half, he was sentenced to death. McMillian had already spent a year on death row because Sheriff Tate (Michael Harding) was convinced he was guilty even though there was no physical evidence and he had a solid alibi. His conviction was based on false testimony coerced from a career criminal, Ralph Myers (Tim Blake Nelson).
For All? For Many?
Pat McCloskey, OFM
November 27, 2019
We have been told for years that Jesus died to save all people. In the Mass, we are told that he came to save “many. ” Which is correct?
Why the Push for a Latin Mass?
Pat McCloskey, OFM
November 27, 2019
There seems to be a push to return to the Latin Mass and all its implications. Our parish has become very divided when this was imposed on us with refusal of Communion in the hand, reintroduction of Communion rails, and traditional hymns replaced by Latin ones. Our bishop seems to favor these changes. People are leaving our parish.
Crying about the Afterlife
Pat McCloskey, OFM
November 27, 2019
Sometimes at night I cry about my own death and the afterlife. At 17, I don’t want to make wrong choices (especially about chastity). Why am I so worried about death and the afterlife?
Thanks for writing. I hope you find this reply helpful. As someone who taught high school students for 16 years full-time and three more years part-time, I appreciate that you find death scary. At age 71, I’m probably closer to death than you are.
Contemplate the Mystery of God
Ilia Delio, OSF
November 26, 2019
We cannot see God with our physical eyes nor can we find God through the logic of reason. The more we try to see God with our physical eyes or find God through logical analysis, the more we will fail. We will become increasingly frustrated and God will become more distant to us. To see the extraordinary ordinariness of God is to see with a different set of eyes, the eyes of the heart and to know God by a different logic, the logic of love. What Francis tells us in his Admonition is that we must contemplate the mystery of God.
Where Lion and Lamb Lie Down
Murray Bodo, OFM
November 25, 2019
Francis looked intently, and he looked with reverence and with love. He is moved. And it is that movement of the heart that leads to action. At the very least, it leads to praise; or if what is seen is broken or hurt, it leads to the need to help the other. And that need to help for Francis is not minimal. He pushes the envelope, for example, vis-à-vis the lepers. He doesn’t simply give them a coin or food. He goes and lives among them and “works mercy with them.” It is a mutual exchange. They both experience mercy.
The Way of the Love of God
Murray Bodo, OFM
November 9, 2019
A preference for light and beauty is one of the reasons St. Francis is attractive to us and why he was so successfully a peacemaker in his own time. It is why today his town of Assisi has been the site of peace conferences and prayer meetings to promote peace. St. Francis is seen as the gentle saint who shows us that the way to peace and justice is the way Christ has shown us in the Gospels, namely, the way of the love of God, which is THE way; and its companion is the way of love of our neighbor as ourselves. This basic Gospel truth is the message of the Gospel St.
Growing in Mindfulness
Brother David Steindl-Rast
November 8, 2019
Is there a method for cultivating mindfulness? Yes, there are many methods. The one I have chosen is gratefulness. Gratefulness can be practiced, cultivated, learned. And as we grow in gratefulness, we grow in mindfulness. Before I open my eyes in the morning, I remind myself that I have eyes to see, while millions of my brothers and sisters are blind—most of them on account of conditions that could be improved if our human family would come to its senses and spend its resources reasonably, equitably.