Last week, we discussed Lectio Divina, which is a very unstructured way to introduce oneself to praying through Scripture. For some people, that lack of structure is a freeing way to meditate on what God is saying in a particular passage. For people who want something a little more regimented, the Church offers a much more formalized way of using Scripture in prayer called the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office.

When I purchased my first car (directly from my parents), it came with the decals and bumper stickers they had placed on it. While this might lead some people to think I was the proud parent of a US Marine, I was more worried about the fish on the car: I didn't want anyone to associate Christianity with my driving.

Despite having quite literally the best news to share in the history of creation—our relationship to God can be restored through the free gift of Christ—we still hesitate to share that news with others. Why do we (and I'm including myself here) stay silent? Perhaps the most common fear we have is facing hostility from others.

Now that we have covered the entire formation process, you may be wondering who oversees our formation. Who assigns us to parishes? Who sends us to a major seminary?

Starting off this series on evangelization, I compared evangelizing for Christ like evangelizing for a favorite TV show or hobby: It's something we share out of our own love for the topic, and a desire to have others share in that love.

Last week, I closed my overview series on the core Gospel message. Bishop Donald Hying of Madison once summarized this message as: God created everything, our sin messed everything up, Christ brings salvation, and we must make a personal response.

On Thursday, October 13th, the 57th annual Mission Dinner was held in Pittsburgh to honor the life-giving, life-sustaining and life-affirming ministry of our Catholic medical missionaries in Chimbote, Peru.

Parishioners were invited to attend an anointing Mass held at Saint Teresa of Avila Church and sponsored by the Ladies of Charity. Father John and Father Jack took part. A variety of photos can be viewed at https://mountcarmelpgh.org/photoalbums/anointing-mass-october-22-2022.

When I started on the theme of the basic Gospel message back on August, it was obvious to me that the central theme of that message was and is love. We experience God’s gratuitous love in the act of Creation and His Sacrificial love in the Incarnation and death of Jesus.

In this edition, we will see how a seminarian spends his summer and holiday breaks, key components of formation. ​​​​​​​During a man’s time at Saint Paul Seminary, he may either spend his summer(s) in a parish (his home parish or another parish in the diocese) or work a summer job.

We have examined the seminary process in great detail. Hopefully, you have learned something about the journey a man takes toward ordination! In this edition, we will see how a seminarian spends his summer and holiday breaks, key components of formation. CLICK TITLE FOR MORE.

We experience God’s gratuitous love in the act of Creation and His Sacrificial love in the Incarnation and death of Jesus. We see how that love triumphs over sin and death through the resurrection and comes to dwell in us through the Holy Spirit. We struggle to accept that love in our lives and seek healing, grace, and mercy in the sacraments. We learn to enact that love in our own lives through prayer, and service, and sacrificial self-giving to others. Finally we will come to experience God’s love in its indescribable fullness, as we enter completely into His presence. CLICK TITLE FOR MORE.

When we think of the end of the world, we don’t tend to think of a loving God. Rather we think wrath, and destruction, and whatever else might have been in those Left Behind books that were popular a couple decades ago.

As we discussed last time, we need to surrender to God to grow in holiness. We need to trust in God. We need to live with God. And this sounds easy enough, since God is a perfect divine being who desires our good more than we even desire it for ourselves.

Over the last couple weeks, we’ve seen how the Holy Spirit and the Sacraments have the power to change our lives. But we have also confronted the reality that sometimes our lives don’t seem to change all that much.

I mentioned last week that, even after the Ascension, God remains present with us in at least two ways. The first way was through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The other way God remains with us is through the sacraments.

Jesus is called Emmanuel, God with us. This would suggest that when Jesus ascended into Heaven, God was no longer with us. But this is not the case at all; in at least two ways, God is closer to us now than at any prior point in the history of Creation.

If the cross is the ultimate demonstration of love, Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate triumph of love. While not reducing or diminishing any of the suffering Jesus underwent, the resurrection shows that the love of God is not merely sacrificial, but redemptive.

I suggested last week that one of the best markers of our Christian faith is how well we imitate Christ. And most of us, at least in theory, have no trouble agreeing that we should imitate Christ’s concern for the poor and the outcast, His sense of justice, and His teachings of love. But there is one particular teaching where even His closest disciples balk.

Imagine being a parent of a young infant, specifically an infant who is sick or injured. Imagine your love for this child, and your willingness to do anything that would make him healthy again. Imagine this child is unable to understand anything you are doing: His only point of references is his own suffering.