Fides Et Ratio

Zeal is the only way to overcome sloth, and often, sacrificing our own internal comfort-zone is the best way to accomplish this. Ultimately sloth is not a sin of the flesh, it is an oppressive sadness at the Divine Good. That means, God's goodness and will grieves us. This sadness can come about for many reasons, one of which is opting out of our own responsibilities.

Our Gospel has often confused many people including those who have to preach on the subject. In our first reading we hear about the condemnation of Greed. But in the Gospel, the manager who is greedy is commended. How do we make sense of this?

"Grace builds on nature" teaches us that there is often a process involved in the conversion of hearts and minds in achieving the ideals of the Christian life. Sloth can take over when we realize that this process is painful and long, and we'd prefer to reach that ideal like flipping a switch. Rigidity develops as a result of a lack of patience, whereby we become spiritual violent towards ourselves and others, discouraged and negative. Patience and tolerance are needed, but only as servants of the ideal, not enablers of the mediocre life.

All of us are spiritually lost if we find ourselves succumbing to sin. We need to be humble enough to admit that. It is those who think themselves not to be lost that are self-righteous and totally unaware of their own moral and spiritual state. This is a kind of blindness that refuses to allow ourselves to be found by God. Can God grant us the grace to be honest with ourselves?

A special welcome back to school to the students of St. Michael's High School. Our Parish Community extends to the students our prayers and support as they begin this year by celebrating the Eucharist. The greatest gift of God.

Without humility our relationship to truth becomes unhealthy. And without truth, our love becomes disingenuous. Humility is a matter of living in reality - and not exalting our mind, our judgments, our liberty above what has a design, what is ordered, and what ultimately is defined by God.

We tend to often only look at persecution from the culture - but when you study Church history and Sacred Scripture, it often comes from within the community of the faithful. Sometimes we can scapegoat corruption on the culture as a way of avoiding conflict in the power-structure of the Church. Jeremiah suffered, as did Jesus, precisely because they faced error, wherever it was actually found. Today we celebrate St. John the Baptist who teaches us in regard to marriage and sexuality that sometimes even the leader of the Christian people will end up agreeing to help us lose our head for the Gospel.

Today many are debating "how many are in hell" all the while others deny its very existence, finding it incomprehensible that a loving God would allow for it. Let's turn to the Master and listen to what He says about all of it.

God's gift of sexuality to us has a design. To reject this design is to essentially become spiteful towards God's great and beautiful work of creation. If we love God, this rejection simply isn't an option.

*correction: for some reason I said, "crusades" but I meant the Roman Empire when discussing the Colosseum.

So many people today praise themselves for "being good." Although the central focus of Christianity is not on our own goodness, but rather God's, we must note that our own moral uprightness is something to ponder as well. How can we be truly good, if we do not give God what is "truly right and just?" How can we be good, if we neglect Him who is owed all?

Some people tend to treat the term "heresy" as a swear word or a medieval (i.e. outdated) preoccupation. Today we celebrate St. Dominic who combatted heresies, and guess what: the Church still celebrates Him. Why? Listen in and find out.

Date: Wednesday August, 7th 2019. Our obedience to our superiors, secular or religious is obedience to God. God makes that clear when the people of Israel complain against Aaron and Moses. Its also something St. Paul is taught when He persecutes God through the Church. Obedience is the remedy to overcoming pride - and so when it goes against our own fallible judgment, yet is most certainly not a sin, we must obey. This will be more pleasing to God than doing what we'd prefer, no matter how much we idealize our own ways.

Fr. Chris explores Jesus' reflection on greed in today's scripture, in the Prodigal Son story, Dante's Purgatory, and its implications for today.

Fr. Chris reflects on the two ways we can know God as Father. He discusses how God intends us "to be" and knows us intimately. And then he discusses the great gift of the OUR FATHER, Jesus' greatest gift to us, which is to win His Father through grace in the same way Jesus is loved by His father.

Fr. Chris reflects on the importance of prayer, and how sometimes our culture doesn't enable us to rest in such prayer. The Eucharist is definitely a great place to plug back into prayer.

Suffering has become a place of love and triumph. This is where we can triumph over sin and death. Therefore, this Friday is Good.

Outdoing each other in Service. The Eucharist and Priesthood of Christ as Model.

Christ demonstrates what Fortitude and Love in combination look like: and its the Crucifixion.