Reflections

Fr. Schmitz: Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?

How can God be good, but allow bad things to happen? Fr. Mike Schmitz tackles one of the toughest questions religious believers must answer. Source: Ascension Presents

Seeing Through God’s Eyes

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B St. Thomas Aquinas once said: “Omnia quasi oculo Dei intuemur . . .” This means, “Everything as if through His eyes.” In other words, we should see and evaluate everything as if [read more...]

Does God Care About “Self-Care”?

Do you prioritize self-care like it’s urgent and important? Or are the people you love only getting the most burnt-out version of you? You know, your basic needs are a priority to God—they need to be a priority to YOU, [read more...]

Fr. Schmitz: Praying in a State of Mortal Sin

Contrite prayer can be an act of courage, because Lord knows there’s no harder time to pray than after we know we’ve sinned. In a way, we’re afraid to approach God. Yet, just as the only way to overcome our [read more...]

Deacon’s Beacon: Answering Jesus’ Call

Answering Jesus’ Call In the early stages of the parish revitalization program (“To teach who Christ is”) one of the questions asked of the participants was – “Is your parish a “Maintenance Church” or a “Missionary Church”? I thought – [read more...]

Don’t Lose Sight: Interior Contact with God

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B When I was a seminarian in Poland, one of my priest professors told me a story about when he was in Mexico giving a retreat and a man came to him and [read more...]

Undefeated: The Man in the Arena

UNDEFEATED – THE MAN IN THE ARENA: “We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of [read more...]

Greatest Commandment?

The Pharisees tested Jesus with the following question: “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus masterfully replied by distilling the Ten Commandments (not to mention the countless pages of doctrine, rules and regulations man has subsequently created through [read more...]

Reflection: The God of Choices

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” If you have ever read a book [read more...]

Reflection: Believing and Rejoicing

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary One of the most poignant moments in John’s Gospel comes from the meeting between Jesus and Thomas the Apostle after the Resurrection. “Doubting Thomas” refused to accept the truth of Jesus’ [read more...]