“They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.  It will lead to your giving testimony.” (Lk 21:12-13) What does it mean when Christ tells us that “they will persecute you”?  We can easily look at the history of the Church and see persecution, beginning with our very own St. Stephen, the first martyr.  The first “official” persecutions began in 1st century Rome and were conducted by the Emperor Nero.  Those early persecutions led to the Great Persecution of the 3rd century by the Roman Empire, persecutions that didn’t end until Christianity was legalized in 313 A.D.  We can look at the persecutions of Christians by the Moslem invasion in North Africa, which led to the … [Read more...]

“That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” (Lk 20:37-38) By tradition, the Church dedicates November to prayer for the Poor Souls in Purgatory, those faithful Christians who have died and gone before us but who still must atone for their sins. The time they spend in Purgatory cleanses them so that they may enter Heaven free from the effects of the sin they might have committed in life. Church doctrine on purgatory is based in part on the Old Testament reading in 2 Maccabees 12:40-46, where prayers were offered for those who had died in battle.  Praying for the dead has been a constant … [Read more...]

“But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8) Only a little over 12 years ago, in Ryadh, Saudi Arabia, a Catholic priest and more than a dozen Filipinos were arrested and charged with proselytizing.  An easy Internet search can help you find the story.  What were they doing?  Were they engaged in a Eucharistic Procession?  Were they handing out Bibles on street corners?  Were they running an illegal radio program trying to convince Muslims to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?  No.  None of the above.  They were attending Mass in a small Riyadh rest house. Filipinos comprise the vast majority of the more than one million foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.  And they are almost exclusively Catholic.  There is no freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia; the … [Read more...]

“Ten were cleansed, were they not?  Where are the other nine?  Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” (Lk 17:17-19) This Gospel this weekend concerns gratitude.  The story is simple.  Jesus cures ten lepers, and only one returns to thank Him.  The word gratitude is interesting.  It’s usually defined as “a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation.”  And we might experience gratitude for many things.  If we’re late for work, we might feel gratitude that we make it through all of the stoplights.  We might wake up and see a beautiful sunny day, and feel gratitude.  We might experience gratitude for any of the amazing little things that happen to us during the day – a rainbow, a sunset, a butterfly … [Read more...]

The Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” (Lk 17:5) By the time the Apostles have gotten to the 17th Chapter of Luke’s Gospel, they’ve seen Jesus do a lot of things.  They’ve seen a miraculous catch of fish.  They’ve seen Jesus expel demons.  They’ve seen Him heal a mother-in-law, a leper, a paralytic, a man with a withered hand, a servant, a woman with a hemorrhage, a crippled woman and a man with dropsy.  They’ve seen Jesus calm a storm, feed 5000 people and raise two children from the dead.  At this point, they realize that Jesus has some pretty serious authority.  And out of all the things they can ask for, they ask him for one thing: “increase our faith.” What is it about “faith” that is so important to the Apostles?  There are two ways that we understand faith in the … [Read more...]

He said, “Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.” But Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets.  Let them listen to them.” He said, “Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” Then Abraham said, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” (Lk 16:27-31) What is faith?  How do we get it, and where does it come from?  St. Thomas classically defined faith as: “the act of the intellect assenting to a Divine truth owing to the movement of the will, which is itself moved by the grace of God.” But sometimes things are made easier by … [Read more...]

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.   (Lk 14:11). What is humility?  The word origin comes from the Latin word “humus,” which means “dirt.”  It can have negative connotations as being “lowly” or “abased,” but Catholics tend to see humility as a virtue.  And the reason for that?  It’s because Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the epitome, the essence of humility.  He came from the highest station possible:  He is the Lord, the Creator of the Universe, the Word made Flesh, the Alpha and the Omega.  And from the highest station, He chose the lowliest station on Earth.  He was born in a stable.  He grew up in one of the smallest backwaters of the Middle East.  He became an “itinerant” preacher and had nowhere to lay his head.  He … [Read more...]