Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
One of the more misunderstood of the deadly sins is sloth. In the wider culture sloth is often equated simply with laziness. But sloth has a lot more subtleties than simple laziness. In fact, sloth can sometimes manifest as workaholism and other frantic worldly activities and busyness. This is because sloth is most fundamentally defined …
One of the stranger affections of God in the Old Testament is the special love that God had for Jacob. His name, according to some means “grabber” or “usurper”. Even in the womb he strove and wrestled with his twin brother Esau. And though Esau made it out first, Jacob came forth grabbing his brother’s …
Continue reading “A Battle You Cannot Afford to Win – The Remarkable Story of Jacob’s Conversion”
I think one of the joys of heaven will be to finally see what our prayers actually wrought. Yes, even our distracted and imperfect prayers, by God’s grace may well have had the power to bring immense healing, cast out demons, cancel discouragement, push back temptation and even turn away wars. I know that I …
Continue reading “A Word from the Lord and a Saint as to what Prayer Does.”
About two years ago I attempted to trace our philosophical disaster of the modern world back to Descartes and the disconnect from reality he introduced (and with which, at least, he struggled). In effect, the radical doubt he introduced in anything I see or experience, disconnects us from reality. And, pulling up roots from reality …
There is a line from scripture that says, Woe to the solitary man. If he falls he has no one to lift him up. (Ecclesiastes 4:10) Scripture also says, And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, …
Continue reading “The Protection of the Flock, as seen on TV.”
The Feast of St. Mark that we celebrated today is a reminder that the Gospel occurs in the human setting and condition. Somehow I thought of this on this feast for Mark, also known as “John Mark” was at the center of tension between Paul and Barnabas and the differences were so severe that it …
Continue reading “On The Story of Mark and What it teaches us About Reconciliation”
Many of us who are a bit older, say age 50 and older, remember a time when the Church, at least in terms of numbers, seemed much more vigorous. And those who remember even longer, who were born before 1950 and lived in the northern cities, remember a time when Catholic parishes were like enormous …
Continue reading “A Meditation on a Magnificent Description of The Immigrant Church of 1900-1950”
A reader alerted me to an interesting and insightful analysis by Pope Leo XIII of three trends that both alarmed him and pointed to future problems. He wrote of these three concerns in 1893 in the Encyclical on the Holy Rosary entitled Laetitiae Sanctae (Of Holy Joy). The Pope enunciates these three areas of concern …