Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
Some forty years ago the Venerable Bishop Fulton J Sheen admonished the priests of his day in these words: We become real priests when we empty ourselves, and no longer seek our [own] identity, and where we are lifted up to the cross, not going “down to people.” Too many of us today feel we …
Many people today put Hell in opposition to the love of God. But Jesus combines them. Here is an important truth: No one loves you more than Jesus Christ. And yet, no one spoke of or taught on Hell and Judgment more than Jesus Christ. There is from him, warning after warning, parable after parable, …
Continue reading “Jesus, Who loves you, warned of Hell – A Catalogue of Jesus’ Warning texts.”
There is an old Spiritual that says, My God is so high, you can’t over him, he’s so low, you can’t under him, he’s so wide you can’t round him, you must come in, by and through the Lamb. Not a bad way of saying that God is other, He is beyond what human words …
Continue reading “1 and 1 and 1 are One – A Mediation on the Feast of the Holy Trinity”
This past week we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. (And, given my mention of Fatima, you may wonder why I have Our Lady of Guadalupe pictured here, but more on that in a moment). But as for Fatima, with all the emphasis on the magnificent teaching and prophetic fulfillment of that apparition, …
Continue reading “Our Lady of Fatima and the "Muslim Connection"”
In more dioceses than not, the Feast of the Ascension is celebrated this weekend. The liturgist in me regrets the move, but here we are anyway. So let’s ascend with the Lord, three days late! This marvelous feast is not merely about something that took place two thousand years ago. For, though Christ our head …
Continue reading “Every Round Goes Higher – A Meditation on the Feast of the Ascension”
There is a rather humorous aspect of the story of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. You likely know the basic story which begins with the men of that early time saying, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make …
Is the Church a thermometer or a thermostat? In other words are we called merely to reflect the temperature (thermometer), or are we called to affect the temperature (thermostat)? Many are deeply confused as to the role of the Church in the modern world and think we ought simply to reflect the mores of current …
The Passion which we read in today’s liturgy is too long to comment on in detail. We are only able to take a portion and examine it. The usual villains such as the Temple leaders, Judas, and the recruited crowd, which shouted “Crucify him!” are fairly obvious in displaying their sinfulness and are unambiguously wicked. …