St. Paul and the Blessed Virgin
Everyone knows that Catholics love the Blessed Virgin Mary and everyone knows that Protestants love the Apostle Paul. But did you know that a 17th century woman saint was shown in a vision the life of Mary? Venerable Mary of Agreda (ok, almost a saint) was a Spanish Franciscan nun. She was given the private revelation of the entire life of Mary (from her Immaculate Conception to past her Assumption and Coronation) all of which she recorded in a book called The Mystical City of God (not to be confused with a similar title of St. Augustine, written 1200 years earlier.) This Franciscan nun's private revelation of the life of Mary is over 2000 pages! Jansenists did not like her book. However, Pope Innocent XI, decreed on 9 November 1681, that the Mystical City of God could be freely spread among the clergy [...]
21st Sunday After Pentecost
This homily is on the healing power of forgiveness, borrowed mostly from Fr. Gary Selin (and a little from Jeff Cavins.)
On the Separation of Church and State
When Thomas Jefferson used the term "separation of Church and State" it was to assure a group of Baptists that the State would not trample the rights of their community. He wrote: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the [...]
Our Lady of the Rosary
October is the month of the Holy Rosary. I took this picture outside of the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei in Italy during Easter week of 2016. The Church was built about 140 years ago by a former-satanist, Bl. Bartolomo Longo, a man who changed his life through the Rosary. He is now up for canonization.
How to be a Better Father
"How to be a better father" is a talk I gave to men last night. It’s based on St. Peter’s first letter to his own men.
19th Sunday After Pentecost
The entire story of Jews and Catholics meet: God marries His people in today's Gospel, Matthew 22.
7 Priest-Myths Unveiled
Myth #1: A priest can give you permission to skip Sunday Mass if you had a very busy weekend (for example, a Saturday wedding.) Truth: Sunday Mass is part of the Third Commandment. A priest can not dispense you from God’s commandments. No sooner could a priest give a frisky married man a dispensation on the 6th commandment for his travels than he could give a person a dispensation for fulfilling a matter of Divine Law. I blogged recently on the different levels of authority here. If you are sick or having a baby or travelling (i.e Mass would be impossible) then there is no sin in missing Sunday Mass. In that case, you don’t need a priest to give you a dispensation. It stands in Canon Law for you to be honest but generous before God. Can. 1245 Without [...]
18th Sunday After Pentecost
Sunday homily on the true power of good confession.
Sacred Heart in the Eucharist
One of the reasons I love the Traditional Latin Mass is because the Collect (the beginning prayer to God after the Introit and the Kyrie) usually links heaven and earth. For example, the collect of the votive Mass of St. Joseph reads: Oh God, who in Thine unspeakable Providence didst vouchsafe to choose blessed Joseph for Thy most holy Mother’s spouse, grant we beseech Thee, that we who revere him as our protector upon earth, may become worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven. I have wondered for a few years why the old Mass always ties heaven to earth in the opening prayer. It has to be for more than saccharinely-sweet reasons of saintly piety. It is probably because the prayers of everyone are collected and given to the Blessed Trinity through the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ [...]
Seven Sorrows of Mary
Kibeho, Rwanda, where Mary appeared in 1981 in a Vatican-approved apparition, preaching (among many things) the renewal of the ancient 7-sorrows Rosary.