Camino de Fe

        A woman whose husband died six months before Christmas, sat down to write out a Christmas card to a close friend. This is what she said: “Some say to me, ‘This first Christmas without your husband will be hard for you.’ It will be, of course. But without Christmas, my life would be impossible.”       At the time of her husband’s death, that woman thought that God had turned out the light. But then came the Christmas Message to remind her that God had reached out and turned on the light for all time and for all people.       Today we celebrate the birth of the messenger from heaven.  In the gospel today we read that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.”  Christ was always present with God.  He was there at the very foundation of the world.  Jesu...

Brothers and sisters, We are close to Christmas.  In just a few days we will be entering into the Christmas season.  The word of God is seeking to open our hearts to the mystery which we celebrate each year. Today in our Catholic faith we celebrate the 4th week of advent.  It is during the 4th week of Advent that we finally arrive at the greatest celebration of all history, the celebration of the Birth of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Through the birth of such a great redeemer the light of the world was turned on and remains on. It is during this week that our focus is turned to the historical Jesus.  It is of great importance to us as Christians to understand that the coming of Jesus was foretold. In the first reading from the prophet Micah, we are reminded of the promise that God made to all humanity; the promise of a shepherd that was coming from humble beginnings.  During the time that Micah wrote this passage, the world was a complete me...

Gaudete! Rejoice! The scriptures on this Sunday take a different proclamation.  Instead of calling us to repent and turn to God, they call us to rejoice in the Lord. Zephaniah says Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!"  St. Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: Rejoice!"  Joy seems to be lacking in our world today because of all the darkness we face daily.  Just this past week, in Connecticut, we heard of the tragic murder of innocent children and adults at the hands of an ill person.  Every day we hear of the constant struggle of Christians losing their lives to violence and persecution.  Respect for life from conception to natural death is always in the front lines, some say we should respect life and others that it should be a choice.  When we drive around town, we see homeless and hungry people looking for assistance....

5. This year of faith is of great importance because it "will assist all the faithful to profess the true faith and its correct interpretation".  Celebrating this year 50 years later shows that all is alive and well.  It allows us to see the grace from the council and a guide for now.  This council, if interpreted correctly could be very powerful for renewal. 6. Renewal is not only offered through the work of the council but also by the lives of the faithful in the world.  Christians are called to corrugate the word of truth.  Jesus came to offer himself for the salvation of mankind yet the church continues to clasp sinners to her bosom and calls all to the path of penance and renewal.  The church, even through persecution, continues to proclaim the cross and death of Christ.  Through the power of the risen Lord the church is strengthened to overcome all suffering, both within and without, in patience and in love. This year of faith is a summo...

Through out history many brothers and sisters of our Christian family have spent much effort on trying to guess the end times.  So many times has the world been predicted to end and yet none of them have been true.  Many brothers and sisters have looked to scripture to try to explain and predict the end times sometimes causing a great anxiety among the people of God.  But what does scripture actually say about the end times? In the Gospel of St. Mark chapter 13, Jesus says to his disciples, ""In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.   "And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. Heaven and eart...

1. " The 'door of faith' (Acts 14:22) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his church when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be transformed by grace"  To enter through the "door of faith" is the start of a life long journey which begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4) which allows us to address God as Father and it ends with passage into eternal life, "to profess faith in the Trinity is to believe in one God who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8). Faith is the "door" that leads mankind to a sincere relationship with God.  Through this relationship with God, one is offered entry into the church through the transforming power of his word being proclaimed and received by a willing heart.  Once one enters through that "door of faith", that one begins a life long journey which begins with baptism, is sustained through the sacraments instituted by Christ in which and thr...

This evening I read an article about a former nun who left her religious community after 20 years of service.  She left for many reasons that she states but it all comes down to disobedience.  There have been many religious people who have left their communities because of a lack of obedience to their superiors.  I read in that same article that no where in the scripture does it say that we must be obedient.  Of course that is in error.  There are many scripture passages that deal with obedience. "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." - Hebrews 13-17 St. Paul tells the Hebrews that they must be obedient to those who have rule over them.  The big point in this passage is "for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account".  Powerful words about those who are to oversee...

Today I was watching two YouTube videos of Baptist ministers who were preaching against the Catholic Church.  Then I began to read comments that many people had made in regards to these videos.  One thing that stands out to me the most is how wrong these ministers are in their preaching.  They preach what they think the Catholic Church teaches and the truth is that what they preach is not what our Church teaches. On one video there is a Baptist Minister who has a statue of St. Therese of Lisieux  and calls it Mary.  He then begins to speak how Catholic worship the statue and how the statue is thought to have special powers.  Then to prove his point that the statue does nothing he destroys it with a hammer.  How sad that he believes that Catholic's worship statues.  Statues are not for worship they are to point us in the direction of Heaven.  Every Saint that lived, and that were proclaimed a Saint by the church, is because they lived virtuou...