Blog
2020 Year In Review
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, It's been a trying and humbling year for everyone due to Covid-19. We continue to pray for the Institute community's needs, especially those who lost loved ones from Covid or other reasons. Another cultural sea change from the...
Is There Someone You Need to Forgive This Christmas?
Justice and Mercy in The Man Who Invented Christmas A dear friend of mine once shared with me a deep pain in his heart when I asked about his father. His parents divorced when he and his siblings were very young, and in the bitterness and anger at the father that...
‘May it be done to me according to your word’
A Reflection on the Fourth Sunday of Advent “May it be done to me according to your word.” How easy it is for us to skip over those words without really pausing to consider what they mean. How easy it is for us to dismiss them without taking the time to reflect...
The Moment Is Almost Here
A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday Of Advent The moment is almost here. “The mystery kept secret for long ages…[is soon to be] manifested” (Rom 16:25). Before we race ahead, though, let us linger a bit more on today’s mystery. If we are not careful, we can...
Encountering the Father’s Heart of Saint Joseph
The 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church was celebrated on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception this month. In honor of that anniversary, Pope Francis declared this liturgical year to be dedicated to Saint...
How to Get the Gaudete (Joy) Out of Advent
Can you believe we just lit the pink candle and it’s already the third week of Advent? Advent, of course, means “coming.” It’s a time set aside for the Bride (the Church) to prepare herself for the coming of the Bridegroom (Christ). The cause of the Church’s joy on...
What Is the Church Really Saying with Advent?
The Advent season — and the Third Sunday of Advent, or Rejoicing Sunday, in particular! — is both a joyful and a difficult season, a season of preparing for the Coming of the Lord. “Prepare the way of the Lord!” St. John the Baptist cries out in...
Beyond the Blue Plaster Statue: An Advent Reflection on the Most Beautiful (and Most Fragrant!) Woman Who Ever Lived
Creator created God so humbled Enclosed in the womb of a poor young girl Crying out, God, God, you are crazy! And with enflamed desire I go searching for who this young woman is Who joined the Lover to the beloved Looking at her from her head down to her feet So...
‘The End Is Near’
How many times have we seen a movie or a TV show with the iconic “crazy” person on a street corner wearing a placard with “The End is Near” scribbled on it? And how many times have we quickly dismissed that person as extreme, ludicrous, ultimately sad? But have you...
Three Favorite Quotes from Father Raneiro Cantalamessa
I have long admired the insights of the papal preacher Father Raneiro Cantalamessa, who will be made a cardinal this Saturday, Nov. 28. Here are three of my favorite quotes from him: “I do not need to look outside myself for proof that God loves me; I, myself, am...
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