Love, an emotion? a feeling? What is love? Today many people, when they think of love think of it as an emotion or a feeling. For them, love is possible of fading or dying. Love, for many, is just a state of mind that one can fall into or fall out of. But is this… [Read More]
Four Keys to Setting Our Families Ablaze – Part 2 of 5 – Faith
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen … And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:1,6) If our families are to be set… [Read More]
Stewardship – Now is the Time
As I travel around Central Texas speaking about stewardship, I always seem to get the same response – “I don’t get this stewardship thing!” Stewardship seems to be a very difficult concept for many people. Perhaps it is because we get caught up in the notion that stewardship is only about money and getting more… [Read More]
Four Keys to Setting Our Families Ablaze – Part 1 of 5
I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! (Luke 12:49) Jesus desired then, and He desires now that a fire be kindled on earth. Today, as much as at any time before in history, we as Catholics, as Christians, must take these words to heart. We must “rekindle… [Read More]
The Mystery of Parenthood
Fifteen years ago at St. Mary’s in College Station, I walked down the stairs with my then 3 year old son. What happened on those stairs opened my eyes and subsequently my wife’s eyes to the fact that parenthood does more for the parents than it ever does for the children. On that stairway, our… [Read More]
Tech Disconnect and World Communications Day 2013
I’m becoming increasingly convinced that our world has left a generation feeling isolated through its attempts to connect everyone and everything through technology. Sure, we see each other’s tweets and see our loved one’s experiences on Instagram, but I’m not convinced that I’ve grown closer to those friends through that. I’ve noticed that I make… [Read More]
Stewardship and the Universal Church
At most Sunday Masses, we stand after the homily and recite the Nicene Creed. This creed is our proclamation that we believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three persons in one God. We also proclaim our belief that our Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. To proclaim the Church… [Read More]
Catholic Services Appeal
During November, parishes across the Diocese of Austin participate in the Catholic Services Appeal (CSA). Now in its 35th year, the CSA has provided over $66 million of support to the ministries of the diocese. This year’s Appeal will help support many diocesan ministries, including a quality education for 46 seminarians, as well as thousands… [Read More]
Stewardship as a Way of Life
The basic principles of Christian stewardship – accountability, generosity and the willingness to give back with increase – stem from a spirit of gratitude. People of faith acknowledge God as the giver of all creation. Everything that we have and all that we are, our skills and talents, our possessions, and life itself are gifts… [Read More]
Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) and the Brown Scapular
Last year I wrote an article about the history of the Brown Scapular in honor of the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel that was approaching. This year, I’d like to focus on the role the Brown Scapular plays as our spiritual armor. ARMOR IN COMMON Pope Benedict XV, the Pope of World… [Read More]
Marriage & Saltwater
Catholics believe that it is impossible for people of the same sex to marry each other. This particular Church teaching is one of the most often attacked from without (and, unfortunately, dissented from within). In order to better understand this doctrine, I would like to focus on one particular aspect of this doctrine: the necessary… [Read More]
Our Lady of Guadalupe “Patroness of the Unborn”
In 1531, the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe brought an end to human sacrifice all over the Americas. Before she appeared to St. Juan Diego, cruel human sacrificing rituals were performed on a scale never approached, even remotely, by other peoples of the era. Many methods were used. In one of their religious ceremonies,… [Read More]
1st Annual Children’s Corpus Christi Procession
On Sunday June 26, 2011, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi universally around the world. This year Saint Mary Cathedral plans to have the 1st Annual Children’s Corpus Christi Procession. It will be geared toward children and Catholic youth so that they will come to give witness to the world of their… [Read More]
