posted 6/8/20 The gospel reading for today’s Mass is St. Matthew’s account of the Beatitudes. Everyone is familiar with the Beatitudes, but what actual effect they have on our lives is unclear. They can seem poetic and obscure – beautiful, but not really helpful in a practical sense. It’s a lot easier to “get” the 10 Commandments, which seem straightforward. Continue reading “Poor in Spirit”
Author Archives: stceceliastgabriel
Te Deum
posted 6/6/20 This Sunday the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The truth that God exists is something that one can reasonably deduce through the exercise of one’s natural intellectual gifts. The inner life of God as a Communion of Three Divine Persons, however, is something that we know only through divine revelation. Our imaginations are not muchContinue reading “Te Deum”
Finding Refuge
posted 6/5/20 There are times when I’ll be at a family gathering, the adults sitting at the dining room table and the kids playing somewhere (everywhere) else, and inevitably one of the children will come over and bury himself/herself in the side of his/her mother or father. It could be for a multitude of reasons. It could be the kid is unhappy because someone wasContinue reading “Finding Refuge”
St. Therese and the Greatest Commandment
posted 6/4/20 In the Gospel for today’s Mass (Mark 12:28-34) a scribe asks Jesus: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Our Lord responds: “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with allContinue reading “St. Therese and the Greatest Commandment”
The Ugandan Martyrs
posted 6/3/20 Today is the feast day of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, 22 young Ugandan men who were put to death for the faith in 1886. While doing some research on these young saints, I came across a video that Bishop Robert Barron did on the Ugandan Martyrs and it’s much better than anything I could comeContinue reading “The Ugandan Martyrs”
The Human Heart
posted 6/2/20 When he was arrested in February 1945 on a trumped-up charge of having committed crimes against the Soviet Union, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was forced to march along with several other detained Soviet soldiers and a German civilian from the jail where they had been processed to the prison which would be their new home. Solzhenitsyn, an officer in the Soviet Army, wasContinue reading “The Human Heart”
Mother of the Church
posted 6/1/20 There’s a couple I’ve known for many years – I’ll call them Fred and Jane. They met each other not long after the untimely deaths of their first spouses. Jane had children with her first husband, and Fred also had children, including a young son with severe disabilities. I remember a conversation with Jane when she told me about the time she first metContinue reading “Mother of the Church”
The Gift of Fear of the Lord
As a kid some of my favorite books were C.S. Lewis’ series, The Chronicles of Narnia. If you’re familiar with the stories you know that the greatest of the characters in the novels is, of course, Aslan the Lion. The philosopher Peter Kreeft has said that Lewis accomplished something remarkable when he created a literary character who makes the reader feel likeContinue reading “The Gift of Fear of the Lord”
The Gift of Piety
posted 5/29/20 Sometimes on my day off I will go to visit one of my sisters who lives in Fairfield. She has five children, so bedtime is not usually the best time for me to stop by. But it’s very nice when the kids are all settled in and I get there in time to say prayers with the family beforeContinue reading “The Gift of Piety”
The Gift of Knowledge
posted 5/28/20 Several winters ago, my sister went to a place called White Horse, Canada with her husband. While they were there, she took a bunch of photographs, including some of the Northern Lights, which were on full display. She had a copy of one of the photos blown up and framed, and it now hangs on the wall ofContinue reading “The Gift of Knowledge”
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 