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The Gospel this Sunday teaches us to pray always and not to lose heart. It is about being tenacious in prayer, continuing to beseech the Lord even when the results are discouraging. It is also about the Lord’s will to extend the Gospel to all the nations and to make the Church truly catholic. Let’s look at this Gospel in five stages. TRAVELS – The text says, At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus goes north of Israel into the territory we know today as Lebanon. Matthew is not just giving us a quick travelogue here. We are not interested merely in Jesus’ physical location but in what it signifies. Jesus has gone up north to pagan territory. Other things being equal, this is a rather odd destination for a Jewish preacher, but remember that Jesus is preparing...

Archbishop Charles Chaput. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA) Released August 11, signers include academics, religious leaders and other commentators, including Archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia Charles Chaput and Princeton Law School professor Robert George. PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Efforts to protect people from harm and error now marginalize and even demonize others for unpopular opinions, warns a new statement urging a revival of civil engagement and conscientious respect for the convictions of others. “We want—and to be true to ourselves we need—to be a nation in which we and our fellow citizens of many different faiths, philosophies, and persuasions can speak their minds and honor their deepest convictions without fear of punishment and retaliation,” said the newly released Philadelphia Statement...

Thinking out loud about a return to “Sunday normal,” a veteran pastor recently told me that he thought it would take one year for each month of lockdown/quarantine/ shelter-at-home for Mass attendance to return to where it was in February 2020. I said I hoped that people’s hunger for the Eucharist would bring them back more quickly, once they concluded that it was reasonably safe, for themselves and others, to do so. But whether “Sunday normal” returns this year or next year, the “Sunday normal” of February 2020 isn’t something for which we should easily settle. Because “Sunday normal” isn’t what it should be. This extended moment of Eucharistic fasting may be a providential moment to do something about that. Why isn’t pre-pandemic “Sunday normal” the norm to which we should aspire? Becaus...

Just out of the Hospital (more on that in a future post). Only Able to blog briefly, But I’m slowly coming back online. Thanks for your prayers!  The video below has a lot to say about how we understand the proper solutions to our real problems. The commercial features a man in the desert who collapses with dire thirst. In the distance he sees a cooler; it is a miracle! Opening it he sees just what he needs, water!  But he is disappointed! Why? Water is so plain and ordinary. He wants something with flavor and pizzazz! And this speaks to a problem among even many believers.  In the desert of this life God gives us food and drink to sustain us. But too many of us us find this sustenance too ordinary and boring. The Jewish people grew sick of the manna that God apportioned the...

In Florence, Italy, small, quaint windows offer a glimpse of old world architecture – and some also serve, once again, as a place to get wine.  These little windows date back centuries, and were once used by wine producers selling their wine directly to customers. They became especially useful during the plague, according to Buchette del Vino, an Italian cultural association dedicated to wine windows.  The plague ravaged northern and central Italy from 1629 to 1631, during which these little windows offered a way to buy and sell wine, while limiting the spread of germs.  Like other contactless-delivery methods, wine windows are now having a resurgence during the coronavirus pandemic, which earlier this year prompted Italy to impose a nationwide lockdown. ...

Denver Newsroom, Aug 12, 2020 / 09:05 pm MT (CNA).-   Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been working from home these last few months, like a lot of people have. Biden has been campaigning from his house in Delaware: livestreaming interviews, appearing on radio shows, and releasing videos. But now that Biden has selected a running mate, and is less than three months from Election Day, the candidate is expected to hit the road again —  while respecting social distance, of course. Biden, a Catholic, is in the habit of going to Mass while traveling. If he resumes that habit, it will soon raise questions familiar both to bishops and to pundits: Can pro-choice politicians like Biden receive the Eucharist? And will anyone stop Biden if he approaches the communion...