Learning to be Quick to Listen

Our Savior, in the Gospel of Matthew, presents us with a profound choice: "Enter by the  narrow gate , for wide is the gate and broad the road leading to destruction, and many there are who go that route. But how narrow the gate and hemmed in is the road leading to life, and few there are who find it!" Saint Augustine  wisely unpacks this teaching, revealing two distinct paths before us: one wide and leading to death, the other narrow and leading to eternal life. It is a stark warning and a loving invitation. To choose the path of life means to actively turn away from the allure of the broad road, which, as Augustine explains, is "constantly traveled by swarms of people" indulging in vices and evil passions . This broad way, though seemingly offering many attractions and populated by the majority, ultimately leads to damnation. What then, defines this "roomy thoroughfare" of vice? It is the highway of shame and excess, frequented by multitudes who embrac...

Martina Purdy writes, About four years ago, I received a telephone call from a priest who invited a friend and I to a meeting. The priest didn’t actually say what the meeting was about – he just wondered if we might be interested in learning about his mission. We travelled to the Donegal border, and the priest introduced us to a man who told a remarkable story. He was a life-long Catholic, a weekly-mass goer, who was married with a family and for years had appeared to be living a good life. But he had a dark secret, a silent addiction, which had enslaved him for a long time: he could not stop himself looking at pornography. He said he would go to confession and receive absolution but the compulsion always got the better of him. Eventually he went to a particular priest who warned him that he was on the road to hell. This frightened him and he turned to prayer. The priest’s comments were not unlike Pope Francis’ warning last month when the Pontiff called pornography a work of the devil...