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Take a walk with Jesus through your childhood neighborhood this Sunday, in the readings for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. Be yourself around him, acting just as you always do — too willing to ignore Jesus and too willing to assert your ego. That is what the Apostles do, and they learn a remarkable insight about spiritual childhood. This Sunday’s Gospel passage would be funny if it didn’t sting. It begins with Jesus and the apostles going on “a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it.” Last Sunday, Jesus told the Apostles where this journey was headed: He was going to Jerusalem to die, and each would have to “take up his cross and follow me” and be willing to “lose his life for my sake.”  Then, a lot happens in the 30 verses we skip between last...

No compromise, printing the legend, and road rage Skip to content Pillar subscribers can listen to Ed read this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR Happy Friday friends, And a happy feast of Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Korea’s first priest, along with Paul Chong Hasang and their companion martyrs.  I’ve always found the witness of the Korean Church to have a special kind of profundity. So closed was the country to outside influences that Christianity only made it there through the handful of people allowed to go on the annual diplomatic mission to Peking — members of the diplomatic mission got hold of some Christian texts in Chinese and basically converted themselves, seeking baptism on subsequent annual trips before spreading the Gospel on their return. The repression at home was brutal...

Mel Gibson is in Europe scouting locations for a sequel to his 2004 biblical blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ” — which could mean that the film’s long-gestating followup is actually going to get made. Earlier this week Gibson reportedly toured Malta with a production team and subsequently arrived in the Southern Italian region of Puglia where he visited various rural locations, including the ancient towns of Ginosa, Gravina Laterza and Altamura, Puglia Film Commission director Antonio Parente said. “All we can confirm is they were scouting locations recently,” Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, told Variety in an email, adding that there is “not a lot to discuss at this early stage.”  Related Stories Nierob also specified that any casting details of the “Passion of the Christ...

“Hallow,” the prayer app that debuted in 2018, is one of the most popular spiritual tools on the planet, having been downloaded some 14 million times in over 150 countries, according to founder Alex Jones. So I was delighted when Hallow approached me several months ago, seeking to use material from Witness to Hope, the first volume of my biography of Pope St. John Paul II, in a series of meditations and prayers that would be launched this summer. I prepared a phonetic pronunciation guide for Jim Caviezel, who would read texts from the book, and I was pleased that the meditations would be led by my friend Msgr. James Shea, president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. Everything seemed in order. Then, in mid-July, shortly after the John Paul II/Witness to Hope series went l...

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By Carrie Gress Thinking back to when my children were babies, I remember carrying each on my left side. Being right-handed, it seemed to make sense to hold a baby on the left so my right hand was free to do other things. My husband, however, who is left-handed, said he carried our children on the left side because it was his dominant hand. Apparently (no pun intended), we aren’t the only couple who prefers to carry our young on the left hand side. In fact, according to psychiatrist, philosopher and neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist, this preferred pattern has been around for millennia. In his deeply insightful 2009 book, The Master and His Emissary, McGilchrist reports that “[t]he right hemisphere’s affinity for both the perception and expression o...

By Clement Harrold September 13, 2024 1) He is one of the four major prophets alongside Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And at 52 chapters, the book of Jeremiah has the longest word count of any book of the Bible. 2) We know more about his life than that of any other Old Testament prophet. Thanks to the treasure trove of biographical information contained in the book of Jeremiah, scholars have been able to piece together the prophet’s life in considerable detail. We know, for example, that he came from a priestly family, and that he was born in the southern kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Josiah, whose landmark political and liturgical reforms took place in the late seventh century B.C. This makes Jeremiah a contemporary of Solon of Athens! 3) His life’s work was to warn about the i...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Sep 16, 2024 A new height in pontifical fuzziness was reached by Pope Francis on, of all dates, Friday the 13th (see our news story All faiths lead to God, Pope tells youth in Singapore). It is a great sorrow to many Catholics that we must endure such a pontificate. Just stop and think about the numbers of bishops and priests who have to walk constantly on that tightrope of truth which requires them to faithfully teach the Catholic Faith without undermining confidence in the Church’s very constitution, by which the successor of St. Peter is the monarchical administrator of the Church while being the guarantor of Catholic teaching under only very carefully-defined conditions. About all we can do is to attempt to clear things up one ...

Readings:Isaiah 50:4-9Psalm 116:1-6, 8-9James 2:14-18Mark 8:27-35 In today’s Gospel, we reach a pivotal moment in our walk with the Lord. After weeks of listening to His words and witnessing His deeds, along with the disciples we’re asked to decide who Jesus truly is. Peter answers for them, and for us, too, when he declares: “You are the Messiah.” Many expected the Messiah to be a miracle worker who would vanquish Israel’s enemies and restore the kingdom of David (see John 6:15). Jesus today reveals a different portrait. He calls Himself the Son of Man, evoking the royal figure Daniel saw in his heavenly visions (see Daniel 7:13–14). But Jesus’ kingship is not to be of this world (see John 18:36). And the path to His throne, as He reveals, is by way of suffering and death. Jesus identifie...

Of all the things about which I preach, very few (if any) provoke as strong (and usually negative) a reaction as the call to forgive. I get more angry pushback after a Mass at which I preach on forgiveness than when I speak about chastity, greed, or any other challenging moral topic. It would seem that the anger is rooted in two things: first, that the call to forgive implies some dishonoring or diminishing of the pain or injustice someone has experienced, and second, that it seems to imply that there is a requirement to stay in or resume relationships that are poisonous or dysfunctional. But forgiveness need not imply either of these. Forgiveness is a concept that is often misunderstood. Many people interpret it to mean that they must...

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, c. 1889. (Image: Wikipedia) On the cross, Jesus said, “I thirst.” Our souls also thirst. And because those of us within the pro-life movement sometimes find ourselves discouraged and wondering how we can return our culture to one that respects life, reveres God, and protects the vulnerable, we long for ways to nourish our souls. We often look to saints for their example and encouragement. Their words and their trust in God inspire us and soothe our hearts so that we can continue fighting the enemies of life. This October, like never before, we will hear the words of a young saint who battled trial after trial and never gave in to discouragement. Her example serves as a beautiful model for how we can face trials in our own lives. And as she lay sick in bed, she promi...