Learning to be Quick to Listen

It was the love, not the nails, that held Him on the cross. Those are the opening words to a song that is perfect for today. As we begin our Lenten journey on this Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us. His love was boundless and will not be outdone. Jesus hung on the cross to pay a ransom for us. Was it the only way? Probably not but the transgressions had created a gulf between God and His people. Out of His love, He sent His only Son to come to earth. After being arrested, humiliated, beaten, crucified, and buried, He was lifted up for our sins. Jesus Christ lives today and His life allows us to come to the Father. So what does your plan for the next forty days look like? Have you thought about what you will do to draw closer to God? Make it something big. Think about making an impact. Be bold! Think in the positive and focus on making the world a better place with your sacrifices. Remember how Jesus Christ was covered with stripes from the whips they...

It seems satan has recruited a new member in the attempt to bring down the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ. Nicki Minaj, who purports to be a singer, performed a song on the Grammy's Sunday night that quickly turned into a sacrilegious mess. She has been roundly criticized but responded on her Twitter account that she is not sorry and basically meant to offend people. We cannot print her response because it is also offensive to civil society. At a time when the president of the United States is pushing policies that are aimed point blank at Catholic beliefs based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, it seems that satan is working overtime to continue the assault against the Church. St. Bernard Clairvaux said that being a Christian in this time will be difficult. He notes that only the heroic will survive. Are you ready to be a hero for Jesus' Church? If you are, be aware that satan and his army will come against us. You must arm yourself appropriately and the best way is t...

The take-away message from a Vatican-backed symposium on clerical sex abuse was clear: Victims, truth and justice come first. And the church can no longer wait for a crisis to erupt before it begins to address the scandal of abuse. "We do not need to wait for a bomb to explode. Preventing it from exploding is the best response," said Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle. The archbishop of Manila was one of more than 200 bishops, cardinals, priests, religious and laypeople who attended a landmark symposium February 6-9 in Rome. The conference aimed to inspire and educate bishops' conferences around the world as they seek to comply with a Vatican mandate to establish anti-abuse guidelines by May. U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office that issued the mandate, said more than 4,000 cases of sexual abuse have been reported to the doctrinal office the past decade. Those cases revealed that an exclusively ...

Whether the rich-poor divide in the United States is a demographic statistic or a politician's talking point is irrelevant to the agencies that are simply trying to make sure the people on the poor side of the equation have a roof over their head and food on the table. They're too busy trying to figure out how to feed more people with less money. The growing gap between rich and poor in the United States is a key theme of the "occupy" movement around the country, with participants emphasizing that they represent the "99 percent," as opposed to the 1 percent who control the majority of financial resources in the world. People are definitely noticing the gap between rich and poor and consider it a problem, according to pollsters. Two-thirds of a sampling of Americans told the Pew Research Center in December that there are strong or very strong conflicts between rich and poor in this country, up from 47 percent who said that two years ago. More than twice as ma...

God calls us to be a people of words and deeds. He gave us the Bible and the preaching of the apostles to guide our lives. Now He asks that we become a Church that not only hears the words but are does of the words. It is important to remember as Catholics that it is not enough to simply say "I believe", and then do nothing. The Bible says, "Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but rather he who does the will of my Father" (Matthew 7:21) Therefore, it must be assumed that works are indeed a necessary component of one's faith. Too many people think that faith means giving God lip service only ("This generation honors me with their lips, while their heart is far from me", Matthew 15:18), rather than actually doing good deeds for others. A good place to start if you are looking for good deeds are the Beatitudes. The Gospel of Matthew (5:3-10) tells us "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heave...