The phone rang. I was 23 years old and hadn’t heard from my friend Sara in five years. We grew up together. “What have you been up to?” Sara asked. “Well, I’ve had a life-changing experience and I’ve become a born-again Christian!” I exclaimed, waiting for the usual...
Ever since I can remember, there was always something about Mary that drew me in. I would never share this with any non-Catholic but the truth is I’ve only recently felt drawn to God the Father and Jesus. The Holy Spirit, despite being somewhat nebulous and...
In the previous article, we journeyed with Dante from the first terrace of Mt. Purgatory to the fourth, covering the sins or character defects of pride, envy, wrath, and sloth. Dante sees firsthand how the souls are purified from their attachments to particular sins...
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were talking about the messiness of my relationship with my mom, and a video I had recently watched online popped into my head. The video began with sentimental background music and captions explaining the circumstances of a family: the...
One of the practices that I like to do when I pray is to repeat the words slowly so I can contemplate each one. As I pray for my children to have a gentle mother, I have been drawn to the phrase “full of grace” in the Hail Mary. To be full of grace means there is no...
We are fallen but redeemed by Jesus. He wants to claim what’s His: our souls. However, the spiritual war between Christ and the devil for our souls never stops raging in this life. Therefore, similar to physical warfare, we must arm ourselves with weapons to defeat...
We may be tempted to stray off the path of recovery and wander into the swirling chaos and confusion of this world. Fear and uncertainty of the future can quickly and without warning pull us into a trap where we allow old thoughts and behaviors to enter. Our reliance...
In February of this year, I began to experience severe lower back and leg pain. It began exactly two weeks before Ash Wednesday and with it began a powerful Lenten experience that continues today. I had to totally abandon myself to God in complete surrender and...
Growing up I felt like I was just going through the motions when it came to going to church. I just knew that we had to stand up, sit down, listen to a few songs, and repeat. However, I do remember getting excited about seeing others that I knew there (it was as if we...
The disease of alcoholism and addiction is often referred to as the family disease. This is because if someone who suffers from addiction looks hard enough they can often find others in their own family who suffer. For us in recovery, when we take a moment to look...