The content discusses the distinction between freedom and license through the lens of Catholic faith, emphasizing that true freedom involves moral responsibility and serving others, rather than pursuing self-indulgent desires.
Lent
Why Should We Rejoice During Lent?
The Church celebrates Laetare Sunday, emphasizing the joy from Lent’s struggles, echoing Pope John Paul II’s teachings that self-mastery during hardships leads to greater love and readiness for Easter joy.
What God Asks of Us Tomorrow
The upcoming Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, emphasizing fasting as a spiritual practice. The Church encourages fasting for self-mastery, allowing individuals to deepen their relationship with God and resist temptation through discipline and love.
Lent: A Time for Spiritual or Incarnational Renewal?
Pope Benedict, in continuity with Pope St. John Paul’s Theology of the Body (TOB), speaks of three main aspects of the human person: communal, historical, and bodily. Does this mean that these two great popes don’t believe in the spiritual dimension of the person? Of...
But What If You Couldn’t Fail?
"I want to stick to my resolution. I know it's for the better. I want to persevere, but it's so hard, and, if I'm being honest...I'm scared." It's a phrase all too familiar with people who are struggling to get out of a bad habit or better themselves with a long-term...
Your Mama Knows Best
Do you remember your childhood days when your mom would guide you in moderating your helpings for a meal or dessert? “Only two pieces of candy.” “Only one helping of spaghetti.” “Only two helpings of ice cream.” (How good that two helpings of ice cream were allowed!)...
Lent: Making Sense of Sensing the Senses
Last week while giving a retreat to middle school students, I had them bring a notepad and pencil into the chapel. After some quiet and prayer, I asked them to notice everything in the chapel and to draw it, be it candles, stained glass, air conditioning vent, pews,...
Memento Mori
“Remember, you will die.” Better known perhaps in Latin, “memento mori” is the catchy phrase that the Church has inherited from centuries of tradition. It’s never been a particular favorite of mine - it’s a bit of a downer, very pithy, and therefore to my mind rather...
March 25 and Our Re-Creation
My favorite day in Lent is March 25. No, it’s not my favorite since I can eat dessert because it is a solemnity (though that’s a bonus)! Rather, it is the day that “the body entered theology…through the main door” (TOB 23:4). What does Pope John Paul mean? And how...
Theology of the Body and Lenten Asceticism
Lent is back. As Catholics, we are accustomed during this season to hear various exhortations to further conversion in our lives, especially through practicing the three traditional Lenten practices of prayer, asceticism, and almsgiving. It seems to me that most of us...