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The death of Jesus Christ on the cross revealed the greatest act of love that destroyed the works of the Devil, defeated the authority of sin and death, and provided a salvific path for all God’s children to embrace if chosen. Jesus’ death was not an accident or a mistake in judgment by a few unruly men. The entire mystery of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection reveals a divine plan of redemption to free men from the slavery of sin.[1] St. Paul reminds us of this when he proclaims that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.[2]        Jesus explained his role as the suffering servant to his disciples on the Road to Emmaus carefully narrative the salvific events that had taken place and culminating this narrative with the celebration of the...

Many years ago, a friend visiting an Eastern European country diligently wrote several postcards, stamped them, and then dropped them in what he thought was a mailbox. It turned out to be a very elegant trash can. Of course, his postcards never made it to their intended recipients. In the pro-life movement, messaging can often be like my friend’s simple mistake where we think we are doing one thing, but with unintended results. For decades, pro-lifers have tried to communicate rich and important truths about babies, motherhood, and the family, yet the polls and the culture continually show these efforts are falling upon deaf ears. We make impassioned and intellectually rigorous arguments, and then they dissolve in the red robes and bonnets of “The Handmaid’s Tale” activists. That one image...

By Clement Harrold April 19, 2024 One of the more puzzling elements in the Gospel descriptions of the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus is the fact that Matthew’s Gospel ends on a mountaintop in Galilee, while Luke’s account concludes near Bethany and the Mount of Olives, just a short distance from Jerusalem and almost a hundred miles south of Galilee. To make matters worse, in Luke 24:49 Jesus is recorded as commanding His disciples to “stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.” This is further corroborated by Acts 1:4: “And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father.” Being clothed with power from on high and waiting for the promise of the Father seem to be allusions to the event of Pentecost...

By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Apr 19, 2024 “What is truth?” That cynical question, memorably posed by Pontius Pilate, is enjoying new currency today, thanks to public statements by Katherine Maher, the newly installed head of National Public Radio (NPR). ”We all have different truths,” Maher told a TED talk audience, explaining that there are “many different truths.” So she is not worried by the fact that, as she sees it, NPR reporters “are not focused on the truth.” They’re focused on something else, which is the best of what we can know right now. …. Perhaps, for our most tricky disagreements, seeking the truth, and seeking to convince others of the truth, might not be the right place to start. In fact, a reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s get...

Don’t think that Jesus is only saying sweet consoling words when he proclaims himself the good shepherd on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B. He is, certainly, doing that. But he is also saying something uniquely challenging. What he said about the Good Shepherd almost got him killed. The Gospel we hear on Good Shepherd Sunday is the climax of a three-chapter-long confrontation in the Gospel of John between Jesus and Jewish leaders. It starts with Jesus teaching in the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles and in the course of the showdown, he compares himself to “living waters” and calls himself “the light of the world.” He twice references his own divinity saying, “Before Abraham was, I am,” and “I and the Father are one.” He doesn’t just teach astonishing things, he does astonishing ...