Tag Archives: love

Marriage: Imaging God’s Love

18 Sunday Aug 2019

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Seeing Jesus in Each Other

What is the point of marriage? To understand the point of marriage, we need to first understand the sacramentality of marriage. What is a Sacrament? It is a visible sign of an invisible reality, instituted by Christ as a source of grace. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the visible sign is the couple themselves. What is the invisible reality of this sign? Jesus. The husband and wife have the mission of being Christ to each other, to their children, and to the whole world. You cannot have a loftier task!

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Fixing the Root Cause of Violent Crime: Healthy and Holy Marriages and Families

10 Saturday Aug 2019

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St Josemaria on Marriage

The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family.[1]

These prophetic words were penned by St. John Paul II in 1982 in his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (The Christian Family in the Modern World). Society and the Church are built on the foundation of strong marriage and family life.

The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family.[2]

These equally prophetic words were written in 1965 by Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II document, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). It was a time when traditional values were being questioned and often jettisoned as being “old fashioned.” Divorce was rapidly rising, the number of children born out of wedlock was increasing and traditional family life and moral values were under attack.

Our society today is suffering the ills of the breakup of marriages and families. Continue reading →

Feast of Ss. Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

26 Friday Jul 2019

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Education of the Virgin_Velazquez

The Education of the Virgin, Diego Velázquez, c. 1617-18

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus. Joachim and Anne are not mentioned in Scripture. Everything we know about them has been handed on by tradition. Desiring to have children, Joachim fasted and prayed in the desert for a child. An angel appeared to him and announced that he and Anne would soon have a daughter, who would be world renowned.

As respected members of the Jewish community, Joachim and Anne taught Mary the tenants of the faith. In thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, Joachim and Anne brought Mary when she was three years old to the temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Mary remained in the temple to be prepared for the special role God would have her play in salvation history.

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Husbands and Fathers: Your Task is to Image the Heavenly Father

04 Saturday May 2019

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Childhood of Christ, Gerrit van Honthorst, c. 1620

This past week, the Church celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker (May 1). Scripture says that Joseph was a “just man” (Mt 1:19). Although Scripture records no words of Joseph, from his actions we can discern that he was a compassionate, caring man. We know Joseph loved Jesus and Mary. When the angel came to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything and fled to a strange country with his young wife and baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Mt 2:13-15).

Upon returning from Egypt, Joseph settled his family in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life. When Jesus stayed in the Temple, we are told Joseph and Mary searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Lk 2:48). We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son because over and over the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, “Is this not the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4:22).

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Love, Mercy, and Forgiveness

28 Sunday Apr 2019

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Divine Mercy Mary JPII (2)

Today, on this the last day of the Octave of Easter, the readings for the Mass focus on the mercy of God. Pope John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina in 2000, declared that the “Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’”[1] The feast is based on the private revelations of St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun, who recommended a particular devotion to the Divine Mercy.

In his homily on the first celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, St. John Paul II stressed that love is the foundation of mercy, both in God’s mercy to us, His creatures and in our relationships with others:

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Love Revealed

21 Sunday Apr 2019

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God is Love

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 makes up the fourth of the “Servant Songs” of the Book of Isaiah. This prophesies of the one who will save us from our iniquities. God became man for one reason: to die on the cross to free humanity from the chains of sin and death. Jesus is the “Suffering Servant” foretold in these prophecies. His death on the cross for our salvation shows us the true meaning of love: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down is life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Jesus is love personified.

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Lenten Reflection: The Theological Virtue of Love – Part II

14 Sunday Apr 2019

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Ben XVI_Married Love_02

On this the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, we continue our reflections on the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. This week we will continue to look at the virtue of love.

Love between man and woman cannot be built without sacrifices and self-denial.[1] St. John Paul II

It our modern culture, suffering is to be avoided at all costs. The Christian idea that one “should suffer well,” uniting one’s suffering to the suffering of Christ on the cross, is thought to be the antithesis of a life worth living.

Then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in an interview with Peter Seewald, entitled The Question of Suffering, the Response of the Cross,[2] had this is say about love, suffering, and self-sacrifice…

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Lenten Reflection: The Theological Virtue of Love

07 Sunday Apr 2019

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Wedding Rings_Love Never Fails_1 Cor 13 8_shutterstock

On this the fifth Sunday of Lent, we continue our reflections on the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. This week we will look at the virtue of love. Links to the previous posts in this series are at the end of this reflection.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines charity, that is love, as “the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (CCC, 1823). Jesus even raises love to the level of a new commandment, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).

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Lenten Reflection: The Theological Virtue of Hope – Part II

31 Sunday Mar 2019

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Jer 29 11_Shutterstock

On this the fourth Sunday of Lent, we continue our reflections on the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. This is the second week we will look at the virtue of hope. You can read the first two reflections on faith here and here, and the first reflection on hope here.

Hope is not a feeling or an attitude but a looking to and yearning for a future blessing from God. We (Rose and Dennis) were both widowed. God tested our mettle in the untimely deaths of our spouses. We both were given Jeremiah 29:11 during these trying times, finding encouragement in these words. We stood on this verse, believing deeply in our hearts that God would deliver on His promise.

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Lenten Reflection: The Theological Virtue of Faith – Part 2

17 Sunday Mar 2019

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Faith_Hope_Love_2_crop

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful Hebrews 10:23

On this the second Sunday of Lent, we continue our reflections on the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. This is the second part of our study on the virtue of Faith. You can read the first reflection here.

In today’s first reading we are told, “Abram put his faith in the Lord” (Gen 15:6). This was Abram’s response to God’s promise to make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Despite the fact that Abram and Sarah were childless and well past childbearing age, Abram believed and trusted that God would keep this promise.

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