Watch the Full ABC News Papal Virtual Audience in English
Here is the full unedited video of Pope Francis’s virtual audience with three different groups in the United States: ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos
Category: Spirituality
Discovering Yourself by Getting to Know Jesus Better
The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner was one of my favorite books from last year. and I’ve been slowly rereading it, trying to taking in all he has to say and put it into practice. One of the best chapters explains how to get to know Jesus better. He strongly encourages daily meditation on the gospel and on life experiences in the Ignatian style: “First, take a moment to quiet yourself in God’s presence. Close your eyes and ask God to take the words of Scripture...
How to Make Thanksgiving “A Good Day”
The five minutes it takes to watch this video meditation by Benedictine Brother David Steindl-Rast can make all the difference on the remaining 23 hours and 55 minutes. I hope it blesses your Thanksgiving Day.
Genesis of the Catholic School Year
This year I was asked to lead our school’s retreat. This was the opening I wrote for it. Genesis of the Catholic School Year In the beginning God created the school year. The school year was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the classroom; and the Spirit of God was moving over the summer vacation. And God said, “Let there be fluorescent lights”; and there were fluorescent lights. And God saw that the light was good. And there was evening and there was...
The 3 Most Difficult Things a Human Being Can Do
Anthony de Mello, quoting Sidney Harris: The three most difficult things that a human being can do are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; and third, admitting that you are wrong.
“We Treat God Like a Cow” – On Maturity in Prayer
I was reading George Guiver’s Company of Voices: Daily Prayer and the People of God, when I came across this challenging paragraph: However much the modern Church says it believes in prayer, it so often behaves as if it has failed to surrender to God. The word “surrender” is shorthand for Jesus’ image of bride and bridegroom, and the total self-giving which is necessary in their coming together. Allowing God to be at the center is something we all fail to do. We fail to wait utterly on...
Facing Trials with Grace: A Meditation by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the woman who founded the first Catholic school in the United States, and also the first American-born saint. In today’s Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, St. Elizabeth explains how she is able to deal with the trials of life. My prayer today, dear reader, is that this beautiful meditation can be of help as you face the various trials of your own life: I will tell you what is my own great help. I once...
The Lord of the Gifts: A Brief Meditation on Tolkien and PEZ
My family held a white elephant gift exchange this past Christmas–you know, where people bring gifts anonymously, exchange them, and get a chance to steal them from others. We fought over battery operated massagers, remote control cars, coffee mugs, and Hot Wheels. I was fortunate enough to get a set of PEZ dispensers in the shape of The Lord of the Rings characters, but the process made me think about other gifts we’ve received: our talents, life experiences, and environment. I wonder how many times we look at other...
A Strange and Wonderful Thing Happened to Me Today
But first a little background: Back in September, I read about some homework that Pope Francis gave to his audience: look up the date of your Baptism. He was making the connection that the Church is our mother: “The day of our Baptism is the day of our birth in Church, the day our Mother Church gives us birth, how beautiful.” I have to admit that I didn’t know the date of my own Baptism, so I made it a point to dig out my Baptismal certificate and...
Lebanese Youths Chosen to Write Meditations for Stations of the Cross
Before his resignation from the papacy, Pope Benedict chose Lebanese youth to write the meditations for this year’s Stations of the Cross in Rome. In the following video, some of the young people talk about the process.
Pope Francis on Living Holy Week
In his first general audience, Pope Francis challenges us to “go out of ourselves”: “Living Holy Week is always going deeper into God’s logic, into the logic of the Cross, which is not first and foremost a logic of sorrow and death but one of love and the self giving that brings life. It is entering into the logic of the Gospel. Following, accompanying Christ, staying with him when he demands that we ‘go out’: out of ourselves, out of a tired and habitual way of living the...
