I’ve recently discovered that a pornography addiction is now becoming as popular in our modern society as the common cold. It never ceases to swarm around, mercilessly infecting unsuspecting victims. A couple of weeks ago I had a good friend of mine confide in me about her and her boyfriend’s current battles with long term Read more
God is like a mother, He loves us unconditionally. However, too often we want to take control of this grace in a kind of a spiritual book-keeping, Pope Francis said during his homily at Mass this morning in the chapel at Casa Santa Marta. “God’s closeness is such that he is presented like a mother, Read more
“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way. … Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” I Corinthians 13 The words of the apostle Paul are a familiar text at Read more
264. The primary reason for evangelizing is the love of Jesus which we have received, the experience of salvation which urges us to ever greater love of him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel Read more
In her article in The New York Times, “Sex on Campus: She Can Play That Game, Too,” Kate Taylor describes a world of ambitious Penn undergraduates who put their personal interests and their resumes first. Many have chosen to avoid romantic relationships during college entirely in favour of “hooking up,” no strings attached. As they Read more
I was at the bookstore recently with my kids. The little ones were checking out the Legos while the older girls were lounging like hippies on beanbag chairs reading books we hadn’t bought. I noticed a mother was sitting nearby in the crowded cafe with her daughter, who seemed about thirteen or fourteen years old. Read more
I read “I’m a Catholic but …” in CathNews NZ on Tuesday 6th August, and pondered upon it as I stacked the firewood. I walked over a carpet of camellia flowers – some pink, some brown, some crackly, some squishy. They need to be collected and put on the compost to be transformed, and later, Read more
“Faith is no refuge for the fainthearted, but something which enhances our lives,” says Pope Francis in his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith). “It makes us aware of a magnificent calling, the vocation of love,” he says. “It assures us that this love is trustworthy and worth embracing, for it is based Read more
I read … “I am amazed how often I meet people who ‘once were Catholics’. You never ask why they left the church. There will be umpteen reasons why just as there are umpteen people. But millions have remained true to their Catholic faith.” Merepeka Raukawa-Tait in The Daily Post, March 19, 2013 I wondered Read more
In two television interviews aired on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said Catholics should show more love to gays and lesbians. In an ABC interview he was asked, “What do you say to a gay couple who says, we love God, we love the Church, but we also love each other and Read more