Articles Archives - Page 15 of 26

Why You Should Be Praying for the Cardinals in Conclave

It's a big day today as the Cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel for Eucharistic Adoration in preparation for the upcoming conclave to select the next Pope. What's important for us to remember, as the Cardinals have reminded us, is that we need to join in prayer on their behalf.

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Why I Love My German Shepherd Pope Benedict XVI

Today is officially Benedict XVI's last day as pope, as I'm sure you've known for some time now. I'm not going to try and predict who the next pope will be or anything like that. What I do want to do is talk about what effect Benedict XVI's pontificate has had on me these past eight years.

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The Good and the Bad of Cultural Catholicism

There's no doubt that the mission of the Catholic Church is—as it always has been—to transform the world. Whether or not Catholics themselves, both lay and clerical, discern that to be their primary calling is another issue. Jesus commissioned the apostles, He sent them out to change the world, to evangelize the culture. This mission has been more effective in some cultures than in others.

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Why They Say “the Truth Hurts”

They say that the truth hurts. I think most of us believe this to be true. I'd say the truth hurts because we have come to believe so many lies. We have allowed our culture to force feed us these lies, fooling us into thinking that because so many of our peers have accepted them that they must be true.

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When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayers, Go to the Desert

Most people who are honestly seeking a deeper intimacy with God will quickly come to the realization that although God hears our prayers it often seems like He doesn't answer us—or at least not in the way we were hoping or with the answer we expected. Sometimes there are those spiritual dry spells, when we feel so distant from God, abandoned, alone.

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Parenthood: An Amazing Insight into How Much God Loves Us

I think it's fairly common for us to take for granted how much someone loves us—our parents, our spouse, especially God. Being a parent affords one a significantly profound insight into the love of God and, at least I believe, the heightened ability to understand how much God loves us.

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How Your Faith Defines You and Why It Matters

It's unfortunate, but in our modern culture many have come to separate their faith from their every day life. Going to church on Sunday is the good thing to do, but the rest of the week church, let alone God, are nowhere to be found. This idea has made it's way into the minds of many Americans, even Catholics. But your faith is more than just a routine practice, your faith defines who you are.

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The Unsurprising First Step to Revolutionize Your Parish

I can't imagine the amount of work and pressure on the pastors of our Catholic parishes around the world. I would hope that their primary concern be to lead their people continually to God through their witness—in preaching and their lived example, and the sacraments. So when you come across a parish that is spiritually dead, what should be done? Something has to help revolutionize your parish, reinvigorate the parishioners, and renew the people in their faith. Fr. Barron has the answer.

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Finding Opportunities to Express Your Generosity

Generosity is not really a term I would use to describe myself. I don't think I am particularly generous, probably because when I think of generosity I think of money. But there are so many other forms of generosity than giving away your money. It can be difficult to think back on the times when you have been generous, but when it comes to the times when you have been the recipient of generosity it is often the simplest gestures, random acts of kindness and selflessness, that have had an overwhelmingly powerful impact on your life.

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A Father’s Struggle with a Restless Child

My son doesn't seem to want to sleep even though his body language overwhelmingly implies that he is physically exhausted. It feels to me like I have tried everything to make him comfortable so that he can fall asleep. Finally I pick him up in my arms and carry him around the room singing to him. His eyelids begin to droop and the tension leaves his body as he drifts off to sleep in his father's arms.

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Human Dignity is Born Out of Love

The human person has a level of dignity that animals do not. And it's not just because we're at the top of the food chain. We have that dignity because we are made in the image and likeness of God. He modeled us after Himself so that we could love, moreover, so that we could choose to love. And with the gift of free will, the ability to make good, rational decisions, comes great responsibility. We must love as God loves.

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Suffering with a Smile

Many people would agree that suffering is a negative part of life. For the most part it is having to deal with circumstances and situations in our lives that we would rather not—when things go a different way than we would have liked. Interestingly enough, we all face suffering in various degrees and amounts throughout our lives and it is a normal, dare I say important part of life.