Labor Day gives many Americans a chance to extend their weekend away from work.
It can also provide people of faith in the United States an opportunity to reflect on the nature of economic activity and the proper roles of their government in it. For Catholics, the words of Blessed John Paul II can provide a common place to start.
To Stabilize, Sustain…
In 1991 John Paul II spent an entire section in an encyclical letter, Centesimus Annus, discussing general functions of the government...
On a recent Saturday morning my 11-year-old son said, “Dad, I’m bored. What are we going to do for fun today?” Like many kids in our age of digital innovation, my youngest son was looking for something new and exciting. Not a bad thing in itself, but his question got me thinking: Do we adults also crave excessive change and entertainment in our lives, and does this desire spill over into how we view our Catholic faith?
I often hear complaints that the “Mass is boring,” “the...
Jubilees mark special moments.
Recently a “diamond” jubilee celebrated Elizabeth II reaching her sixth decade as Queen of Great Britain. Around the same year that she first ascended to her earthly throne, the Church began to observe a royal jubilee – the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 22 – for the only woman ever crowned to a heavenly throne.
Pope Pius XII first proclaimed the universal feast day in his 1954 encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam. In it the Holy Father...
To transfigure means to change the form or outward appearance in order to exalt or glorify. Where can a person fully discover such an extraordinary activity? Beauty found in nature, such as caterpillars escaping their cocoons as butterflies, falls short because it isn’t worthy of worship. Ultimately Christians can only find transfiguration in its deepest, most illuminating sense in prayer informed by the mysteries of their faith.
A Mystery of Light
The Transfiguration, which we celebrate...
With the Olympic Games opening this week in London, and the world’s attention turned toward the performances of a few hundred elite athletes gathered for this quadrennial competition, it is a good time to consider the role of sports in our culture. It is safe to say that competitive sports – especially football, baseball and basketball – exert an outsized influence on our society, raking in millions in revenue and riveting the attention of young people in particular, who grow up...
I never thought I would have to teach my daughter how to walk. Sure, I thought about being ready to catch her when she tried her first uncertain steps, but not about showing her how to bend a knee, gain balance, straighten her feet and properly fall. I had visions of showing my daughter how to ride a bike, shoot a basket, and tie her shoes, but never how to move her legs.
My daughter, Nora, has a disorder that distorts communication between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. She...
Today numerous Catholic parishes expose the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass for short or prolonged periods of adoration. Some Catholics may even have a chapel in their area devoted specifically to this traditional form of worship. But whether for just a brief moment or all day, every day, the focus of our visit should not be on ourselves, but on the One who is present in the monstrance. He welcomes us as we come and seeks to change our hearts before we leave.
The motives for engaging in...
Recently I delivered “the talk” to my 11-year-old son. Like most dads, this was a moment I looked forward to, and dreaded. How would I begin to raise the issue, gauge my son’s reaction, give him enough information but not too much? My wife was not too sure this was the right time to explain the “birds and the bees” to her “baby.” But I knew he was hearing things in school and Boy Scout campouts, and I wanted to be the first to pass on the facts about this great human mystery of...
The Church celebrates the feast day of St. Thomas on July 3. Most people today know this Apostle only for the doubt he expressed about the Resurrection of Jesus, and perhaps they relate this to a healthy, “modern” skepticism (John 20:24-29). Reading the Gospel of John, however, shows that the disciple nicknamed Didymus lived a life defined not by a single moment of disbelief but by admirable traits of faith.
Ready and Steady
Thomas first spoke the day before the raising of Lazarus....
Pornography addiction is a major epidemic in America. Everyday thousands become addicted to it, and Catholics are not immune. For years, few people wanted to address the issue, however because of the immensity of the problem, people are now taking notice. Thanks to recent neuroscience evidence, we now know that pornography is addictive. It affects the pleasure center and impulse control center of the brain in the same way as drugs and alcohol.
While women can become addicted to pornography,...
