15 Sunday Dec 2019
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During Advent, we have been emphasizing the importance of slowing down to spend time with Jesus instead of getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of the secular holiday season. The world has lost sight of what we are celebrating: the coming of the Christ child into the world for our salvation.
There are three ways to spend time with Jesus: The Sacraments, Scripture, and prayer. The foundation of our lives needs to be built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.
20 Friday Jul 2018
Did you know that your happiness is dependent on your ability to focus on others?
Recently, thanks to Craig Pohl, Director of New Evangelization for the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, we learned about Fr. Robert Spitzer’s Four Levels of Happiness. The essence of each level is based on philosophy dating back to Aristotle, who said that happiness is the one thing we desire in and of itself. The level of happiness that is dominant in our lives will dictate our actions and choices. Furthermore, whichever level of happiness dominates our lives will determine the depth and endurance of our happiness.
03 Wednesday Jan 2018
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Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, domestic church, happiness, Holy Name of Jesus, joy, prayer, sacraments, Unleash the Gospel
Today the Church commemorates the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. In his letter to the Church at Philippi, St. Paul wrote of the supremacy of the name of Jesus Christ: “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9) and “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).
18 Friday Aug 2017
Christ Carrying the Cross, Tiziano Vecelli, c. 1565
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 16:24-28
In this Gospel passage, Jesus tells us how to be one of His followers. Specifically, to be His disciple requires the denying of self. In this age of the unholy trinity – me, myself and I – these words of Jesus are hard to understand and follow. We live in a culture that honors and admires rugged individualism and personal satisfaction. Sacrifice and suffering are to be avoided at all costs. Yet Jesus is telling us that this is the way to eternal joy and happiness.
