There is a Longing

Luke 6:39-45  This is the last Sunday in Ordinary time before we enter into the fast-approaching season of Lent. Today’s readings could serve as a guide in the examination of our spiritual lives before we begin the Lenten season, and help to direct our attention to the proper disposition we should have in carrying out the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during the upcoming forty days. As Jesus warns us, we must always be on guard against the temptation to find fault in others. This is not to say that we should look past crimes and allow wrongs to go unpunished, and this is most definitely not a justification for the evils that we are capable of. Rather, He is telling us not to let these misgivings blind us from the dignity of that person or of our own place. When we focus on the faults of our neighbor, the devil presents our own virtues as the standard, and this he usually glorifies, thus making us believe ourselves to be some figure that in reality, is only a distor...

St. Katherine Drexel was born in Philadelphia, PA on November 26, 1858, the second daughter to Francis Anthony Drexel (a wealthy & prominent banker) & Hannah Langstroth. Her mother died when Katherine was only weeks old. A couple years later, her father married Emma Bower a couple years later. They had a daughter a few years later. The Drexel family was well off financially, but more importantly, well off spiritually. Francis & Emma set examples for their girls of a deep prayer life, as well as the practice of the works of mercy (both spiritual & corporal). They were a charitable household, using their financial status to help those less fortunate with donations of food, clothing, & housing assistance.  Katherine learned, however, that no amount of money would be able to keep their family from pain & suffering. Her stepmother, Emma, was diagnosed with a terminal cancer & suffered for three years before passing away. Despite this, or actually because of a...

Today is the final Wednesday of February, which means our final quote on love. We bring you these words from St. Clare of Assisi. "We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God´s compassionate love for others."

Luke 6:27-38 After the death of his wife, a man became verbally and physically abusive towards his children. One by one they left the house as soon as they reached the appropriate age, cutting off all relations with the man, considering him as good as dead. Finally, only the youngest remained, a young boy of twelve years. Intellectually he struggled, having not received any help from his father; socially he was awkward and regarded as an outcast. He was slow-tempered and quick to smile, showing kindness to all without discrimination, but most especially to his father. As he neared a mature age, he remained with the cruel man, observing his rapidly deteriorating mind and incapability to properly care for himself and his house. The boy became little more than a slave to his own father, but nonetheless bore every ill with a cheerful smile and hearty laugh. Not long after, he and his father were killed in an untimely accident.           ...

Oscar Wilde once said, "Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future." Today's saint, St. Margaret of Cortona, exemplifies that quote through the actions of her life.  In 1247, Margaret was born into a farming family in Laviano, Tuscany. She lost her mother when she was only seven years old. Her father remarried two years later, but Margaret faced much criticism from her stepmother, who had no regard for the young child. At the age of 17, she ran off to live with Arsenio, a young son of a nobleman from Montepulciano. She bore him a son, but despite her many requests of him, he never married her.  After nine years, he was murdered & she was left alone to raise their son. This tragedy was the beginning of her road to repentance. She returned with the boy to her father's home, begging for forgiveness. At the insistence of her stepmother, however, her father refused to take her back into the home.  While wondering around Lavino, trying to figure out what to ...

Today we have two quotes on love from Carmelite, St. John of the Cross. “Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.” “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”

Luke 6:17, 20-26 Unlike Matthew’s account, Jesus’ sermon in today’s Gospel takes place on a plain rather than on mountain, but the geographical setting makes no significant difference to the depth of truth in His words. Furthermore, Luke recounts this sermon in second person, in comparison to Matthew’s use of third person, making it sound a little more direct. Regardless, this variance does not change what the Evangelists were trying to convey. The Beatitudes, which we hear about today, are Christ’s teachings on the key to happiness. They are a guide to the eternal life that Jesus desires us all to share in, and He lays it out simply for us. In contrast to His teachings that He shares with us through parables, in which we are able to meditate on and can apply to the changing seasons of our lives, Jesus teaches the Beatitudes without the use of analogy. They always speak to us in the same language and reveal their truth in a straightforward manner. The pathway to the Kingdom of Heaven...

Born in 1641 of French nobility, St. Claude's life was happy & socially active among his family & friends. At the age of 17, he entered the Jesuit novitiate. As a Jesuit priest, his gospel inspired sermons were solid & serious. They produced many spiritual fruits full of confidence in God. He vowed to follow the Rule & Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. It was within this society that he was able to open his heart more fully to minister to others.  In 1675, he was sent to Paray-le-Monial, France to become the rector at a Jesuit college. It was here that he met Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque, becoming her spiritual director & confessor. She had begun to have visions from our Lord, who encouraged devotion to His Sacred Heart. After much discernment in prayer, St. Claude believed her visions were authentic & encouraged her to write about her experience. By accepting the authenticity of her visions, he assisted in the spread of the Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion...

"Let us love, because He first loved us. For how should we love, except He had first loved us? By loving we became friends: but He loved us as enemies, that we might be made friends. He first loved us and gave us the gift of loving Him. We did not yet love Him: by loving we are made beautiful. As the love increases in you, so the loveliness increases: for love is itself the beauty of the soul." (St. Augustine)

Luke 5:1-11 Any good fisherman would have known the necessity of washing his net after he had been fishing. Along with fish, the nets would have also caught seaweed, pebbles, seashells, driftwood, and the like. These could potentially cause small rips in the nets, which would tear even more when used to catch fish again. If left to sit, a horrible stench would build up in the debris and bacteria would grow, ultimately decreasing the lifespan of the nets. Filthy nets can also affect the quality of the catch.             Simon would have understood this well; fishing was his job, his life. He had been out on the Lake of Gennesaret all night. He must have been exhausted, but he had been out so long, he was well aware of the many things he had caught that were not fish. Having been unsuccessful in catching fish, one can only imagine Simon’s defeat, as this was his livelihood. Cleaning those nets, a visible sign of his failure, was p...

  St. Jerome Emiliani was born in Venice, Italy in 1481. As a soldier, he was appointed commander of a fortress in Venice. When that fortress fell during a battle, Jerome was taken prisoner, chained, treated like an animal, & forgotten in an underground dungeon. It was during this time when he repented for his sins & in prayer, gave his life to the Virgin Mary. Miraculously he escaped from his prison & went directly to a local church. There, he placed his chains at the foot of a statue of Mary to fulfill his vow of repentance, & began his life anew. Jerome went on to become a priest. He travelled Northern Italy, founding hospitals, orphanages, & places of refuge for women, children, & other outcasts of society. Alessandro Besuzio & Agostino Bariso, two fellow priests, joined his efforts which lead to Jerome founding the Order of Somascha, dedicated to the education & care of orphans & other youth. Jerome put his work & care for others first...

This post is part one of three on the Three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, & Love. ***************                We shall start with a few brief passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on virtue. These will serve as a foundation for this series of posts, as these descriptions offer a sound definition of virtue. We will be focusing on the theological virtue of faith: A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. the virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. (CCC 1803) The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature:   for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have ...

Welcome to February! Our theme for this month's quotes is "Love" & we're starting off with quotes from two wonderful Catholic figures. Both quotes show that love is not just a feeling, but an action. ***************  "Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do...but how much love we put in that action." (Venerable Fulton Sheen, Archbishop) *************** "I am not sure exactly what Heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather He will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?" (St. Teresa of Calcutta)