Pilgrimage of Hope

  Hope, together with faith and charity, makes up the triptych of the “theological virtues” that express the heart of the Christian life (cf. 1 Cor 13:13; 1 Thess 1:3). In their inseparable unity, hope is the virtue that, so to speak, gives inward direction and purpose to...
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“I Have Called You Friends”

    “It is not enough that I succeed; everyone else must fail.” Google attributes this quote to a Mongol conqueror of the 12th and 13th centuries, though how Google would know baffles me: I can’t find one blog or social media post signed Genghis Khan. Seriously, the...
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A PASTOR’S LETTER TO A CHURCH MEMBER WHO IS TEMPTED BY ABORTION

  The following letter involves fictional characters and circumstances. It is written to encourage, that is, to bolster the courage of those tempted by abortion—including their pastors. (PTS)  __________________________ Dear Karin: God’s grace and peace to you and yours. I...
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Burial of a Queen

    God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in...
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“Stay with us”

    The season that extends for forty days from Easter Sunday to the feast of the Ascension celebrates the time when Jesus revealed his resurrection in many ways. The four gospels give us only a selection of our Lord’s appearances—just enough to illustrate their great...
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The Eclipse of God?

  Today the West lives as if God did not exist . . . This estrangement from God is not caused by reasoning but by a will to be detached from him. The atheistic orientation of a life is almost always a decision by the will. Man no longer wishes to reflect on his relationship to...
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The Good News of Life

  When Jesus says at his death, “It is finished” (also translated “It is accomplished”), he refers not only to his earthly ministry, but to the purpose for which man and woman were created: to love God and neighbor wholeheartedly for as long as we live. With Jesus’ victory...
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Human from Womb to Tomb

    March 25 is the feast of the Annunciation, the annual celebration of the angel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and give birth to Jesus. Since March 25 falls in Holy Week this year, its celebration has been postponed to the second week of Easter....
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Sing Her to Sleep

    The gentle summer day my friend made her journey from home to hospice was marked by a little parade of loved ones. As the medics carried her to the ambulance, her sisters, husband, and daughter filed out into the sunshine behind her, and for reasons I cannot...
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President Biden on Abortion: Time for Church Discipline?

  Before President Joe Biden delivered the 2024 State of the Union address, the question on the minds of most was, Will the president have the get-up-and-go to complete the speech without a disastrous stumble? His delivery made clear that he indeed had the energy, but...
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