Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. In this great story, we find a model for evangelization: fresh from her encounter with God, Mary swings into action (she went “in haste”), joyfully carrying (literally) the Word of God to others and being of service to someone in need. Mary’s visit to Elizabeth was not to brag about her new-found status as the Mother of the Savior. Mary did […]
I received the following email from Tom, telling me about his idea of doing a “project-based” approach to Confirmation preparation. Here’s how he describes it: Hi Joe, It was great to meet you in Winnipeg last month; your visit got me thinking about our parish’s catechetical confirmation prep. The candidates are in Gr. 9 (or as you folks say, ninth grade). I’m looking at implementing project based learning at the core of the […]
One of the most loved and famous Christmas hymns is O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) and it’s great refrain: “O Come let us adore him!” To adore someone is to desire to devote all of your attention to him or her. It means to think of that person as being above all others and to admire his or her beauty. Catholics have a great tradition called adoration. For a good description of the practice […]
The comedy Seinfeld was often known for being a show about “nothing.” When you think about it, the episodes rarely had a story line and yet, somehow, the series touched on some of the most recognizable human moments and experiences that occur in ordinary everyday life and caused us to laugh for 9 seasons. While so many TV shows “jump the shark” in search of profound story lines to engage the audience, Seinfeld’s genius was […]
Memorial Day, of course, signals the official start of summer. As we look forward to the coming summer months, we find that we have many plans: trips, to-do lists, a little down-time. I suggest you grow that list to include some ideas for what you plan to do to enhance your spiritual life, advance your ministry, and grow closer to God. Tell us what you plan to do this summer to renew your faith!
There seems to be no shortage of movies about the lives of human beings AFTER the earth is destroyed (Wall-E, Oblivion, After Earth, just to name a few). We seem to be resigned to the notion that our penchant for disposability will result in the eventual destruction of this planet. Unfortunately, too much of Christianity does little to combat this notion since the false notion persists that our ultimate destiny is to escape this planet […]
Last evening, I had the pleasure of attending the Chicago Archdiocesan Catechetical Ministries Awards Banquet at the Drury Lane Theater in Oak Brook, IL. In particular, I had the honor of introducing my DRE, Arlene Astrowski, who was a recipient of one of the archdiocesan awards! There were over 600 people in attendance, mostly catechists and catechetical leaders along with many pastors and pastoral staff, to honor the efforts of numerous catechetical ministers in the […]
In a general audience in August, 2011, Pope Benedict spoke of the importance of art in the life of faith, saying that artistic beauty can lead the human heart to God. “Art is capable of making visible our need to go beyond what we see and it reveals our thirst for infinite beauty, for God,” said the Holy Father. Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, we are all drawn to beauty. In fact, […]
Last week, I posted about the beautiful Catholic tradition of May Crowning and my quest to find out how to either acquire or make a small “crown” for my backyard Mary Statue. As it turns out, the miniature floral crown that I ordered was WAY too mini! So, instead, I went to Michaels and found resources to make my own which I placed on Mary on Mother’s Day! I’m just a regular Martha Stewart! […]
In his book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg talks about how we form habits and how we can change them. He specifically describes habits that he refers to as “keystone habits,” explaining that “success doesn’t depend on getting every single thing right, but instead relies on identifying a few key priorities and fashioning them into powerful levers.” Keystone habits are those that, when changed, […]
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