Tag Archive: #reflection

Love & Charity, Now

We need God and each other more than ever. The Gospel command to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves, brings this reality home. In a nation where we enjoy food, having our [read more...]

All To God; All For God

Everything that we are and everything that we have belongs to God. He created our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls. God bestowed us with talents and gifts. Everything that happens in our lives—whether good or bad—is permitted [read more...]

Clothed in Our Mother’s Mantle

This Sunday’s Gospel says that those clothed in the wedding garment are admitted to the feast. Saint Augustine tells us that this wedding garment is charity, or love, “that springs from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.” [read more...]

How to be Excellent (NOT a Perfectionist)

They say that perfection is the enemy of the good. But what is true goodness in a pursuit? What does excellence actually look like and consist of? Fr. Mike urges us to practice two qualities that lie at the heart [read more...]

Harvest Plentiful, Laborers Few

After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the [read more...]

Fidelity Yields Peace

One of the greatest fruits produced from a life lived in fidelity to Christ Jesus and the teachings of the Catholic Church is peace. If peace is lacking in our lives as Catholics, in our societies, in the Church, and [read more...]

My Conversion Story

How do you know you’ve had an encounter with God? Sometimes it’s hard to tell, especially if you were raised in the Faith. Fr. Mike shares his own conversion story, and encourages us to think of a time or a [read more...]

Your Spiritual Life?

This Sunday’s Gospel reminds us that good intentions are not enough to get us to heaven. Following Christ and leading a truly spiritual life takes discipline, effort, and perseverance. We cannot simply say “I believe in God” and expect to [read more...]

The Greatest Gift

It is tempting to think like the laborers in Sunday’s Gospel that God is more generous with others than with me. This temptation arises when we desire the wrong thing: what God gives instead of God Himself. What the laborers [read more...]

A Longing for More…

“What are you waiting for, you know you are called to do something great.” When he heard this, Fr. Mark Toups decided to enter the seminary. But that wasn’t the first time he heard the call. While growing up in [read more...]