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Monday, July 02, 2012
Make no mistake about it. Going to Sunday Mass is a weighty obligation. The Third Commandment tells us: “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.” For Catholics that means celebrating Sunday Mass and observing Sabbath rest, so that we can pay attention to the deeper realities of our lives in God.
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Monday, March 12, 2012
I celebrated my first Ash Wednesday as a priest at Carlo Forlanini Hospital in Rome. As I was going to the patients’ rooms to distribute ashes, a nurse carrying a tray of medicine approached me, “Father, could you give me ashes?” I said, “Yes, of course.” And I proceeded with the formula, “Remember you are dust, and unto dust you will return” and I put ashes on her forehead, which she seemed to receive very devoutly.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Sometimes, old sayings get it really wrong. For example, “Idleness is the devil’s workshop.” In fact, the devil likes us to be busy and distracted. When we are busy with work and responsibilities and when we are distracted by problems and enjoyments, we never stop to take a deeper look at our lives. Busy and distracted people hurry from one thing to the next. They cannot hear the voice of God calling them in their lives. They just can’t seem to be ready to meet the Lord when he comes in his Word and Sacraments and in the circumstances of ordinary life.
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Monday, October 24, 2011
This past week, Ave Maria Press published my latest book The Devil You Don’t Know: Recognizing and Resisting Evil in Everyday Life. When I was writing the book, my friends wondered why I was bothering to deal with the devil. So much “devil talk” seems to be associated with Hollywood and very strange experiences. In fact, what we have to deal with is far closer to home and far more ordinary than we would have ever suspected. I had to explain myself.
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Monday, April 18, 2011
I live at Holy Name Cathedral off of north Michigan Avenue. The sidewalks are crowded with workers and students and tourists. It’s easy to bump into people—accidently of course. An “Excuse me” is often met with a scowl. There’s very little forgiveness, it seems, on the Gold Coast. Actually, I don’t think there’s very much forgiveness generally in our world today. And this is true for many reasons.
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