Pain and the Resurrection: The Route to Communion
Recently, a loved one of mine has been experiencing relentless pain. It all began with minor aches years ago which have gradually become worse and worse – to the point of interfering with his day to day life. The pain has even affected his ability to get consistent sleep. As you can imagine, this can quickly lead to a vicious cycle. The problem ...
More Than Sin: 6 Reasons the Word Was Made Flesh
“Why was Christ crucified?” So often the typical response to this question is “to save us from our sins.” This is true. But there is more to consider here. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), there are six other reasons with which we need to be familiar in order to better understand the implications and ramifications o...
And The Word was Made Star Stuff
Against the backdrop of blue skies, crashing waves, and steep, rocky cliffs, and clad in his iconic rust-colored jacket, Carl Sagan uttered perhaps his most famous quote. In the first episode of his acclaimed television series, Cosmos, he said, "We are made of star stuff." He was alluding to the awe-inspiring scientific theory called "supernova nuc...
5 Reasons Christians Should Have Icons
When we look back in history, we see that Christians venerated icons, sacred images of Christ and the Saints, very early on. Paintings of Christ and other religious figures and symbols adorn the walls and sarcophagi in Christian catacombs dating back to the first century. Much has been written defending the Catholic Church’s veneration of icons b...
Reclaiming the Catholic Worldview
The Gospel conquers, fulfills, and transforms all of reality. Far from merely offering a path of moral conduct, Christ brings the fullness of truth and life. Accepting him means becoming more fully human in every aspect of our being. Therefore, conversion necessarily includes allowing the Gospel to touch and transform o...
The Most Important Event of Your Life Is…
Every man is a student of history. History is more than a mere repetition of names and dates, a catalog of inventions, facts, and figures. History is not the death toll of a battle, nor is it the length of a ruler’s reign. History is a story; a woven fabric of lives and events, of men and women doing what men and women do. All of those as...
Encountering the Humanity of Jesus Christ in the Easter Season
In the mid-fifth century, at the First Council of Ephesus (431 AD), and later at the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD), the early Church fathers outlined the orthodox belief in the hypostatic union, positing that “the properties of the Divine and the human nature [of Christ] might be acknowledged to remain in him without causing a division [so] as to...