15 Sunday Apr 2018
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During Lent I read the Manual for Men, a book geared for those who are soldiers for Christ and His Church. These men battle for sanctity in their lives and in the lives of their family. The evil one is attacking families because marriage images Christ’s love for His bride, the Church. It is a battle that men must fight and win.
08 Sunday Apr 2018
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Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36
According to the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: “The family, is so to speak, the domestic church” (11). It is in the family where we first learn that God is “Love and Mercy itself” (Diary of St. Faustina, 1074).
In his homily on the occasion of the canonization of St. Mary Faustina Kowalska, St. John Paul II had this to say about the love and mercy of God:
30 Friday Mar 2018
On this Good Friday, take time to read and meditate on the Suffering Servant foretold in Isaiah 53. Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. Do you know what God has done for you? Do you understand all that Jesus accomplished on the cross? Do you comprehend and believe that Jesus is the Christ?
And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him. Colossians 2:13-15
29 Thursday Mar 2018
A chaste and holy young couple was planning their wedding. Everything was coming together beautifully except one aspect. The bride-to-be was fretting over how to maintain her modesty during the traditional garter toss at the wedding reception. The thought of wearing the garter on her upper thigh and bearing her leg in public was contrary to her belief in the sacredness of the human body. She considered wearing the garter on her calf or ankle but decided that would look silly. When the wedding day arrived, she was still without a plan for dealing with this distressing detail.
22 Thursday Feb 2018
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Have you ever thought of your marriage as a foretaste of heaven? When marriage is lived as God intended – with permanence, partnership, fidelity, and fruitfulness – your marriage is the image of the love that unites the three persons in the Holy Trinity.
Pope Benedict XVI offered high praise for the family in one of his audiences. Here is what he had to say about the gift of marriage and family:
04 Sunday Feb 2018
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Christ, fidelity, forgive, friendship, fruitfulness, grace, intimacy, Jesus, love, partnership, permanence, sacrifice, trust
Last week we learned about the four goods of marriage and how they are woven into the very fabric of the vows that are part of the Marriage Rite of the Catholic Church. The wedding vows speak of: partnership, permanence, fidelity, and fruitfulness.
This week, we will show you how to live out the four goods in your marriage.
In marriage there are two people wounded by Original Sin with a natural bent to selfishness, who join their lives together for life. There will be struggles, hardships, disagreements, strife, and heartache. But the good news is that Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin and give us the grace we need to live out the four goods of marriage.
21 Sunday Jan 2018
Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “The family that prays together stays together.” Did you know the phrase was coined in the 1940s by Father Patrick Peyton a Catholic media pioneer? Known as “The Rosary Priest,” Father Peyton used radio, television, and billboards to promote family prayer, especially praying the Holy Rosary.
14 Sunday Jan 2018
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20
The following is a meditation by St. Teresa of Calcutta on the above passage from the book of Revelation. May you encounter the living God, come down from heaven, Jesus Christ, in her words. He is the lover of your soul.
31 Sunday Dec 2017
The Two Trinities, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1675-82
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. Through the Incarnation, the Divine Word assumed a human body, entering into every aspect of human life, including family life, sanctifying it and making it a path to holiness.
Teacher and author Scott Hahn says,
The family is the key to Christmas. The family is the key to Christianity…When God came to save us, he made salvation inseparable from family life, manifest in family life. Since the family is the ordinary setting of human life, he came to share it, redeem it and perfect it. He made it an image and sacrament of a divine mystery. Salvation itself finds meaning only in familial relations.[1]
22 Friday Dec 2017
We are all familiar with the hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel. This is a paraphrase of the “O Antiphons” which can be traced back to eighth century Christendom. These antiphons use biblical imagery drawn from the messianic promises of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming of the Christ. Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of His attributes mentioned in Scripture. The repeated use of “Come!” expresses the longing of all hearts for the Divine Messiah.
In these final days before Christmas, we suggest that you pray and meditate on these promises of the coming of the Christ Child. Set aside all the busyness of this season. Focus on Christ and be filled with hope that God is with you, both now and forever.
