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The Sign of the Cross and Our Baptism
The Sign of the Cross has a special connection to baptism. It is traced by the Church on the forehead of the catechumen before baptism. It is a sign that this life has been brought under the shadow of...
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The Spirituality of Work: Perspectives from Pope St. John Paul II
If anyone tried to tell us that there is spirituality to work, we might be tempted to laugh at him or her. We might be tempted to view our work with the eyes of the author of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of...
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Fortifying the Virtue of Fortitude
Psalm 67:36 professes: “God is wonderful in his saints; the God of Israel himself will give power and fortitude to his people.” Therefore, fortitude is a gift of God. — St. Bonaventure Is Fortifying...
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Balancing Tenderness and Toughness
Love in any context, but especially in a family, will alternate between tenderness and toughness. The ancient Israelites recognized that love does not look like the saccharine romances (they were...
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Why Holy Water?
Q: A Protestant friend came with me to Mass last Sunday and asked about the Holy Water fonts and why we make the sign of the cross with it when we enter and leave the Church. What answer would you give...
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Symbols of the Spiritual Journey
Since the ninth century the rock cliffs of Metéora have towered, practically inaccessible, high above the plains of Thessaly, Greece. In order to escape the tumult of the world, intrepid monks have...
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Whatever Happened to Limbo?
Dear Father Kerper: Last April, I heard that the Church had abolished Limbo. Years ago, my grandmother told me that non-baptized babies go to Limbo instead of Heaven because of original sin. Now I hear...
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The Catechesis of the Good Tiger
My preschool aged daughter has a beloved stuffed tiger, named “Tiger.” Tiger goes with her to all sorts of places – the library, our homeschool co-op, the seminary where her dad teaches, and any Mass...
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Bored with Gaming? Take The Road to Bethlehem
Some of us remember fantasy role-play through 1980s board games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Today fantasy role-playing is a market worth a billion dollars, if much of it online. Into this world...
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The Fig Tree & Lenten Fasting
Some think Lent is a time for fasting. I see it as a time of feasting. I come to this conclusion based on the story of the fig tree in Luke 13. Three years without bearing fruit. What could be the...
View ArticleThe Eucharist, Our Faith & Life
“The Eucharist is the loom on which the threads of the remaining sacraments are woven into the tapestry of salvation.” And though a single thread of God’s sacramental grace has the instrumental power...
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How the Plagues of Egypt Exposed False Gods & Revealed the Truth
Plagues have a way of stripping away what is superfluous, revealing the naked truth. In the biblical account of the plagues that decimated Egypt, the plagues exposed the civilization’s false gods and...
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A Song of Thanksgiving From Isaiah
Chapters 12-23 of the book of the prophet Isaiah have a lot of heavy material. There are many oracles against foreign nations. This can show an effort by the author to bolster Israel’s national...
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How Daniel Predicted the Timing of Our Salvation
Every Sunday at Mass, we confess that Jesus died and rose again “in accordance with the Scriptures,” and most of us understand this to mean that the Old Testament prophesied Jesus’ death and...
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Get to Know Jesus Through the Liturgical Year
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ becomes alive and visits us, touches us, and enters us through His Mystical Body, the Church! In the most full sense of the word, Jesus becomes alive in us through the...
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