Catholic Journal

Acknowledging Jesus By the Way We Live

Once there was a British story named Tom Brown’s School Days; it was about a very popular boy named Tom who was a student at an English boarding school. He and a dozen other boys lived in one of...

We Are Never Alone

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. (Matthew 11:29) How can Jesus’ “yoke,” (i.e. his challenging teachings) be construed as “easy” and its burden “light?” Jesus’ yoke is...

The Lord is Calling Each of Us

One summer morning a farmer named Ned was helping his neighbor Willy build a new fence, but the work was going slowly. Finally, Ned deliberately dropped a fence post in a muddy puddle of water, splattering both men with mud. Ned’s wife happened to...

All Essays

The Grace of Working

The Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, which we celebrated on May 1st, gently invited me to revisit the great Plenary Council of the Capuchin Order which was celebrated in Rome. Its title is very eloquent and actual...

Our Faith: A Great Gift from God

Once there was a Native American reservation out West; some of the tribe’s members had been converted to Catholicism, but the nearest priest wasn’t able to visit them very often. One day a government agent came to the...

Evangelists for Christ

My ministry, Spirit Filled Hearts, has launched a new initiative, Jesus Thirsts for America, which we will hope will lead many to the Church. We gather in dioceses throughout the country for Mass with the bishop, prayer...

Patient Endurance

Could it be that two thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke to write this event in the life of two of Jesus’ disciples in such a gripping way that we can see ourselves in many of its details...

The Catholic Hall of Fame

Several years ago, after an evening Mass on All Saints Day, I made a suggestion to the celebrant that he might consider using the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York as an analog to the canonization of saints...

The Value of Suffering

The 1993 movie Shadowlands tells the story of the great English author C. S. Lewis, who wrote such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters. An...

Refluxing Dad

Scientists do strange things when they are bored.   Years ago, in the height of the CSI television craze, my lab mate and I would challenge each other between experiments to come up with novel ways to “get rid...