A first century house in Israel
Category: Meditation
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Did Jesus say anything about Abortion?
Did Jesus say anything about Abortion? I get asked this question a lot, as I am sure other pro-life Catholics do too. It’s as if the basic assumption in the question is “if Jesus said nothing against it, then it must be OK.” Let’s step back a moment and look at that assumption. Did Jesus...
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Have you ever wondered why you are still alive?
Your friends and relatives, people you know, keep dying around you. They die suddenly or from a protracted illness. People you went to school with keep dying and class reunions get smaller and smaller. Friends die in automobile or airplane crashes. They die from autoimmune disease, cancers, CO VID, from many different sources. Death is...
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The Question of Mary
Christian beliefs about Jesus’ mother Mary differ. I was watching an episode of The Journey Home last night. This is a program that interviews people who have converted to the Catholic faith exploring their journey. This particular program featured a former Evangelical pastor from the Holiness church. The question arose, as it usually does with...
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An imaginary visit with Jesus and his parents
In the sixteenth century, Saint Ignatius of Loyola wrote out instructions for prayer based upon his own conversion experience. A contemporary of Saint Theresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross, all spiritual giants in the Catholic Church, Saint Ignatius’ legacy to the order he founded (Jesuits), were his written instructions on prayer called...
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An Unexpected Consequence of Imaginative Prayer
I was introduced to imaginative prayer when on a retreat. The retreat master introduced us to Anthony de Mello and his meditation methods. Years later, I was introduced to the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola which rely heavily on the use of imagination. The Rosary also relies on imagination to visualize the lesson...
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Praying The Rosary
The Pieta sculpture represent the death of Jesus. He is placed in his mother's arms after he is taken down from the cross. The 5th Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary prayer.
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Catholic Devotion to Jesus’ Mother Mary
Devotion to Jesus’ mother is as old as Christianity. When Jesus began his active ministry and traveled all over the Galilee, Judea and beyond, Mary often traveled with him. She was no stranger to his friends. The Catholic Church takes the biblical passages about her very seriously and over the centuries has bestowed upon her...
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Using Imagination in Prayer
Many of us, when we think about praying or prayer, generally mean “talking to God.” Whether the prayer is a memorized prayer such as the Our Father, a spontaneous “Thank you God” whisper, reading prayers out of a prayer book, or asking for something, prayer is frequently vocal. We are talking to God. We either...
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The Stolen Miracle Mark 5:24-34
A brief incident, sandwiched in the middle of a story of another of Jesus’ miracles (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:22-43) is unusual in that it tells of a stolen miracle. Unlike other miracles that Jesus freely gave away for the asking (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:24-34, Luke 8:42-48), it was stolen because the woman who stole it...