by Father James Rodriguez IN THIS COLUMN last week, I wrote about an icon of Christ crucified. Through closed eyes, the image starkly reminds us of the price of our redemption. At the end of this holiest of weeks, the light of Christ’s resurrection opens our eyes and shines all around us. In another beautiful […]
Sunday Scriptures
A Love So Great He Gave It All
by Father James Rodriguez ONE OF THE MOST powerful features of religious iconography is the penetrating stare of the subject’s eyes. Whether it is an image of our Lord, His Blessed Mother, or any of the saints, there is something incisive and profound about the subject’s eyes that cuts deep into the soul of anyone […]
Genuine Glory Is Found On the Cross
by Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz FRIENDS OF MINE who are Yankee fans shook their heads in disbelief when I told them that I once sat next to Jorge Posada and his family on a flight from San Juan to New York and had no idea who he was until the flight was over and the flight […]
Examining the Divine Plan At Work in Our Lives
by Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz FREE ASSOCIATION is a funny thing: when I think of John 3:16, football is inevitably the first thing that comes to mind. The gridiron and God so loved the world — what gives? Maybe you remember seeing the man with the crazy colorful wig in the stands behind the goalposts at […]
A Message We Still Need to Hear
by Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz “We preach Christ crucified.” That’s what St. Paul has to say to the Corinthians in the second reading for the third Sunday of Lent. As we know, St. Paul wrote letters to the young Christian communities where he had preached the Good News in person. By means of these letters, he […]
Fathers Have Power to Impart Authentic Faith
by Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz I’m proud to be the son of Pedro Ruiz. I can tell you — with all due respect to my teachers — that I learned more from him about what it means to live as a person of authentic faith than I could learn from all the books that have ever […]
Human Beings Have Free Will To Choose Good Over Evil
by Father William A. McLaughlin Reflecting on the incidents of human brutality during the American Civil War, our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, once spoke with hope that his countrymen would eventually choose to follow their “better angels” instead. This points to how the human heart may follow either the impulses of those bad spirits […]
How Well Do We Keep Our Word to God?
by Father William A. McLaughlin THERE WAS A TIME when a person’s word was his bond. When someone promised something, his reputation depended on his keeping his word. This understanding worked when people lived together in smaller communities. Neighbors and business associates remembered promises, and it was in their interest to honor them. This seems […]
Forgiveness Heals and Frees Us To Imitate Christ
by William A. McLaughlin, Murphy’s Law holds that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst time possible. How awful for someone to wake up on the morning of a job interview, a graduation photo session, or a wedding to look in the mirror and find a large, unsightly pimple on […]
His Healing Leads Us from Slavery to Freedom
by Father William A. McLaughlin, THE UNITED STATES is currently commemorating the 150th anniversary of its Civil War. Americans have reflected on the causes of this national struggle. Some historians place the blame squarely on the issue of slavery which was tearing at the national fabric. So many years since the abolition of slavery in […]
