I recently went on a retreat that gave me a great deal of joy and then a great deal of pain. I was on the mountain. And then I fell off. Among other things, Father Charlie Garza’s day retreat focused on the seven deadly sins – how to recognize the false gods within them and… [Read More]
What Would Padre Pio Say?
Have you ever been to confession with Padre Pio? I think I have. Someone asked me to pray a novena to Padre Pio for an intention. I love novenas. Not everyone does. But I love them. As long as I had him on the phone for that intention, I asked him about a few other… [Read More]
Tis Humility
A remark during the homily at midnight mass really struck me. The priest reflected how each Christmas is different, not because the Gospel story changes -indeed the story is everlasting – but because we come to Christmas each year a little bit different. Each year we bring with us the lived experiences of the whole past year…. [Read More]
An Age of Mercy & Misericordia et Misera
Last Sunday as we were celebrating the closing of the Year of Mercy around the Diocese, my friend and I were talking about how we were kinda sad to see the Year of Mercy end. She turned to me and said – you know how we had the age of Enlightenment? And the age of the… [Read More]
Therese of Lisieux & The Marian Jubilee of Mercy
It’s possible that St Therese of Lisieux is one of those saints of whom we hear so often that we think, well, we already know that story – next! Yet I think we often only capture her “slogan” of childlikeness, and in skipping over it, we miss the profound and prophetic truth manifested in her life…. [Read More]
Mercy: The force that overcomes everything (Or, thoughts on how to get unstuck)
Have you ever been in one of those arguments where you get sucked into the back and forth, like a frenzied game of tug-a-war? Except no one is playing, and in fact the whole emotional environment feels weighty and overly serious, like we’re arguing about way more than the dishwasher all of a sudden. Sometimes… [Read More]
Mercy, Justice, and the Truth (Review: “To Render the Deeds of Mercy”)
I don’t understand the Jubilee Year of Mercy, but I’m trying to. I love learning, so, as I said on my panel during the ATX Catholic Retreat, I’m taking this year as an opportunity to learn what mercy means. I encounter tons of media already, so my learning mostly consists of keeping my eyes and… [Read More]
Mercy and Technology Panel
This audio is from the first panel at the ATX Catholic Day of Reflection 2016 at Our Lady of Schoenstatt Shrine in Austin, TX on April 30, 2016. Moderator: Rachel Gardner Panelist: Trenton Hendrichson, Lindsay Wilcox, and Brandon Kraft Panel 1 – Mercy and Technology What does the Jubilee of Mercy mean to you?… [Read More]
Weeping For Our Sins
An older friend, whom I consider a mentor, once told me, “there is no shame in weeping. Crying only means that we have loved and continue to love something or someone.” We weep on occasions when, from our human perspective, the beloved is irretrievably lost. We weep at evil; evil and it effects, committed by… [Read More]
Sunday Says – March 6, 2016 Mass Readings and Reflection
March 6, 2016 Fourth Sunday of Lent Lectionary: 33 (NAB Translation) The fourth Sunday of Lent is known at Laetare Sunday when we lighten the violet just a little to the shade of rose and celebrate that we are now only 3 weeks away from Easter. We are past the halfway mark, and we… [Read More]
The Mystery of Iniquity – Rejoicing in weakness
Each Lent it seems I come back to this theme – how do we think about sin and weakness? It’s been helpful for me to examine my own understanding – I can’t make much sense of redemption if I have a distorted view of the sin and weakness that necessitated such a Savior. And an unhealthy view… [Read More]
Paul, Mercy, and Providence
Recently God has inspired me, through a variety of means to reflect on the action His merciful providence in my life. I have made many mistakes in my life. I have done and said things that have hurt my communion with others and with God. I have at times, with varying degrees of my will,… [Read More]
Saint Maria Goretti in Texas and Basics on Relics
Texas has been blessed to get a unique saintly visitor this week. The Pilgrimage of Mercy has been traveling the country in preparation for the Jubilee of Mercy, and the bones of St Maria Goretti are traveling for the faithful to venerate and ask for her intercession. I went to visit her in Dallas, but… [Read More]
Spit, Mercy and the Human Spiritual Life
What is it about Jesus spitting, putting his fingers in the deaf man’s ear? It hits on something within us, pulls on something. Some inner notion of cleanliness, of boundaries, of unworthiness. It’s uncomfortable. Unusual. Certainly not how we would expect the God-man to act. Now – to bow at his feet, to stand at… [Read More]
Love Seeking Justice and Mercy (Review: “Change of Heart”)
I do not support the death penalty. I don’t think any Catholic ought to, although I respect the option Catholics have within our tradition to do so. The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that, in the modern world, sufficient means exist to contain dangerous criminals indefinitely without ending their lives, so the cases in… [Read More]
Pope Francis’ Holy Year of Mercy Message
Pope Francis released the Papal Bull of Indiction of the Year of Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy titled Misericordiae Vultus on Saturday April 11, 2015. This homily was given by Deacon Guadalupe at St Mary Cathedral in downtown Austin, TX.
Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood: A Non-Judgmental Warmth and Welcome
Judge not, that you be not judged (Matthew 7:1) The last attitude of evangelism laid out by Pope Francis is a non-judgmental warmth and welcome. As parents, our children need to know that we love them regardless of what they do. They need to know that they can come to us about anything and that they… [Read More]
Purgatory – A Sign of God’s Mercy and Hope for All Saint-Hopefuls
So I knew coming into this post that I was going to be writing after a few others had their pick of All Saints and All Souls topics. But my blog is about becoming a Saint! And we can never learn too much about them, right?So, let us place ourselves in God’s presence, and the… [Read More]
