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How important was the Blessed Virgin to the faith of the early Church? She was essential. Writing in the middle of the third century, Origen of Alexandria evoked the scene at the cross, as the Beloved Disciple stood with Mary, and Jesus said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother,” and said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son” (John 19:26–28).
This past April, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI returned to the public eye in a spectacular fashion.
I wasn’t abused, but I was betrayed. Now is the time for voices to rise into a chorus of solidarity and rebuilding.
In August 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report on clerical sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses in the state.
In the US Navy, I served in Desert Shield/Storm/Provide Comfort and other missions. The commandment says, “Thou shall not murder. ” Well, Father, I’ve killed a lot of people.
I’m just trying to make things right with the Lord. I’ve talked to others, but none of their answers seem to work. I live with this every day and need to figure it out.
“War is hell, ” said Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. Today’s technology makes it even worse by physically separating people even more.
What does kingdom represent in the Gospels that speak of the “kingdom of God ” and the “kingdom of heaven “? What about the expression “The kingdom is at hand ” (Mt 3:2 and elsewhere)?
Matthew uses “kingdom of heaven ” where other Gospels speak of the “kingdom of God. ” They mean the same thing: an acceptance as normal what God considers normal.
Every day, I carry a card among the items in my left pocket. I believe it was a gift from my wife, Kira (who has given me similar wonders through the years). It is a prayer card for Our Lady, Undoer of Knots.
In the picture, the Blessed Virgin is surrounded by numerous figures, each holding out tangled balls of twine. She stands in the middle, patiently at work, with a long strand of unknotted string trailing behind her.
Michael Vanderburgh is a people person. A self-described extrovert, he thrives on connection and communication with others, no matter what their backgrounds or particular station in life might be. Case in point: When Vanderburgh sat down with St. Anthony Messenger at a restaurant just outside of Dayton, Ohio, for the first of multiple interviews, he asked the waitress, “So, what’s good here? ” A warm smile formed on his face as the waitress recognized him from the previous week and, smiling herself, replied, “Oh, pretty much everything. “
In this month of celebration, it’s difficult to believe that St. Anthony ever left the city of his birth. He surely can be found there now.
But no matter what we do or don’t do, no matter if we get it “right” or “wrong,” no matter if we figure out what we’re “going to do with our lives” or take every moment in stride, God will be there at our side guiding our path. Our goal in discernment is not to answer all of the big questions once and for all, to check boxes off a list and cast them—and God— aside until we have another question; our goal is to journey with God, to be constantly listening for the call that he has for us, the call to be a disciple of his Son in today’s world.
