With Pope Francis’ changes to the Holy Thursday liturgy last week, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a young man during the Christmas holiday. He was visiting from Europe and was expressing concern about where Pope Francis seems to be taking the Church. He said that among his circle of friends and acquaintances ...read more

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Week for Prayer for Christian Unity. This special week has been taking place for almost 110 years and is celebrated around the world between the Feast of the Confession of Saint Peter on January 18 and the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25. It’s very ...read more

With the Christmas season officially over, this week the Vatican got back to business. Pope Francis had a full slate of meetings this week with a wide variety of guests: the priests from the Argentine College, the nuncios to Zimbabwe, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the papal delegate to Palestine and Jerusalem and a ...read more

Pope Francis has urged young people living in situations of “war, extreme poverty, daily troubles and loneliness” to not lose hope and not be taken in “by the messages of hatred or terror all around us.” His words came in his Message for the Jubilee of Mercy for Young Boys and Girls, which was released ...read more

One of the benefits of living in the craziest city in America is meeting some of the craziest people in America. A memorable example was a couple years ago at a friend of a friend’s birthday party. Making small talk with a woman I just met, “So what do you do for a living?” “Oh, ...read more

Two weeks ago we looked at why we need mercy and last week we reflected on Don Francisco’s beautiful song, “Adam, Where Are You?” Last week  we also saw what the Church teaches about Original Sin: Once we were in a state of Original Grace. Original Sin is the state of deprivation of that state, ...read more

Last week we saw that the reason why we need mercy is because we are sinners. St. Paul tells the Ephesians, “we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead ...read more

So far we’ve looked at two things that must be present for mercy to take place, we’ve seen the direct relationship between mercy and love and forgiveness. We’ve also looked at why we are being invited to “walk through the door” of mercy this year. This week and next, as we celebrate Christmas and the beginning ...read more

On Monday, December 21, 2015, Pope Francis met with the Roman Curia and presented them with the annual Christmas greetings. Below you can find the full text of the Pope’s address to the gathered Cardinals and Superiors of the Roman Curia. Dear brothers and sisters, Forgive me for not standing up as I speak to you, ...read more

Recently, as we prepare for Christmas, I read a reflection that said that we are living times of mercy. It said that we are living the promise that God made to Abraham – this was God’s proposal to our human condition: To give us his mercy. And as a response to God’s promise, Mary said ...read more