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.
05 Saturday Jan 2019
Christ Pantokrator
Cathedral of Cefalù, Sicily
During Advent we embarked on a journey toward Bethlehem to find the Christ child. Along the way, we discovered the importance of encountering Jesus personally, and making Jesus the center of our marriages and the center of our families. Finally, we discovered that this journey prepared us for the mission of taking Jesus into our neighborhoods and the world.
Practically speaking, what actions should we be taking to personally encounter Jesus so that we may be equipped to share Him with others?
In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Hebrews 1:1-2
08 Friday Sep 2017
Christ Rescuing Peter from Drowning, Lorenzo Veneziano, 1370
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:22-31
01 Friday Sep 2017
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Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, charity, Evangelization, family, forgiveness, grace, love, mercy, prayer, reconciliation, scripture, Unleash the Gospel
Tawas Point Lighthouse, Michigan, USA
Photo Credit: Dennis Wingfield
Families that live their lives according to Joshua’s proclamation are beacons of light in their neighborhoods. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “the family home is rightly called ‘the domestic church,’ a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity” (CCC, 1666). If your family is a school of virtue and Christian charity, people will take notice. They will see that your family is different. They will be attracted to what you have.
St. John Paul II is his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World) had this to say about families:
25 Friday Aug 2017
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The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, c. 1667 or 1668
We have a love for Sacred Scripture. It has so much to say about human interactions and is particularly helpful for issues we face every day in marriage and family life. That is why it is so important to immerse yourself in daily Scripture reading. The Father does know best when it comes to issues pertaining to maintaining and developing our relationships with others.
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:15-20
