Spirituality

Animal Organs, Human Dignity, and the Limits of Technique In March 2024, Richard “Rick” Slayman, a 62-year-old man suffering from end-stage kidney disease, became the first living patient to receive a genetically modified pig kidney at Massachusetts General Hospital. He died nearly two months later,...

Gossip. It is everywhere in our culture. From 24/7 news to social media to our own conversations, we are inundated with temptations to gossip. It is in our fallen human nature, especially of women, to talk about other people. There are entire friend groups formed around gossip. We often engage in go...

This Sunday, as Jesus travels away from Jerusalem toward the region of the Gentiles, He meets a Canaanite woman who desperately needs His help.  Why did He give her the cold shoulder? Gospel (Read Mt. 15:21-28) To best understand this Gospel episode, we need to know that it follows a description of...

Every year the Church obliges Catholics to attend Mass on August 15th, in the middle of summer, to honor the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The belief pertaining to Mary’s Assumption, while celebrated for centuries (many saints have homilies on the Assumption), was elevated to the status of...

When we look upon a crucifix, we see a sterilized version of Our Lord’s physical condition at the moment of His death. Generally, what is depicted are His five wounds and a crown of thorns. This depiction is devoid of His Precious Blood strewn over His Body, along with His torn and mutilated Flesh....

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Mt. 18:20) Why does Jesus tell His disciples that He needs a minimum of “two or three” people to “agree” on a petition in order for Him to grant it? Does this mean that if I pray alone for a particular need, m...

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Last week I preached about Christ’s hands. The Canon of the Mass (Eucharistic Prayer I), describes Christ’s hands as holy and venerable. We could say His feet were holy and venera...

The Venerable Archbishop Sheen, soon to be known as Blessed Fulton Sheen, was a man of many gifts. We should add, however, that his gifts were lavish and reflected a most generous God. He was a clear-headed philosopher, a brilliant essayist, and possessed an illuminating way with words. He was not q...

Jesus walking on water and calling Peter to meet Him outside the boat—recorded in Matthew 14:22-33—is one of the most recognizable and memorable episodes in all the Gospels. It sticks in our minds, certainly, because it is an amazing miracle. It stands out also, I think, because so many of us identi...

Human beings of every generation have faced a particular direction for worship. This is true of most world religions of documented history. Muslims pray toward Mecca because it is the Qibla—the unified direction of worship commanded by Allah in the Quran. The ancient Jews would pray toward Jerusalem...

The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. I was reflecting recently on the many faces of sadness, grief, and sorrow during the recently concluded 2026 soccer World Cup. We saw grown men...

For as long as I can remember, I have loved St. Francis and St. Clare. When we were planning a trip to Italy, I convinced my husband to make Assisi one of our stops. It was every bit as beautiful and peaceful as people describe. But the greatest gift that I received from that trip was the realizatio...