Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
Spirituality
Spirituality
Can We Ever Repay God? 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus’ enemies try to set a trap for Him. A coin buys Him freedom from it. Gospel (Read Mt. 22:15-21) For the last several weeks, our Gospel readings have shown us that Jesus used parables to help the religious elites of Jerusalem hear a call to believe in Him as their Messiah. They fell on deaf ea...
Spirituality
What Angels and Demons Can—and Cannot—Do, Part 2
In the first article, we considered how angels and demons act upon the material world and how their spiritual existence differs from both human life in time and the eternity of God. We now turn from their influence upon the world around us to their influence within us, where distinguishing imaginati...
Spirituality
Fatima Revisited and the Message of an Angel
I grew up when Catholic culture in Northern New Jersey, especially in Catholic schools, was still strong. As a boy I often heard about the events and messages of Fatima and was deeply struck by them. Nevertheless, as the years went on, the events and messages grew dim, and I was no longer saying the...
Spirituality
The Beauty of the Holy Trinity: Part V
In the previous article, we traveled to the spirit of Ancient Rome and witnessed the graces that the most Holy Trinity placed in the souls of great men the likes of Cicero, Seneca, and Virgil, in order that they may unknowingly prepare the culture of Rome to recognize the teachings of Christ when th...
Spirituality
The God-Given Right to Freedom of Religion and the Modern-Day Persecution of Christians
Traditionally, believers are permitted to worship God by assembling in places of worship such as churches, synagogues, and mosques. This being said, we do not leave our belief at the door when religious services are over. We should be free to express ourselves religiously in the public sphere, witho...
Spirituality
Why Do You Believe?
Are we “faithful” because we love the Lord our God, or is it because we fear the devil? Or perhaps even because we fear God? Which among these is the primary driver—and why does it matter? On the surface, it might seem a silly question—one worthy of dismissal—maybe because we think the answer is “al...
Spirituality
Sharing the Gospel with Our Muslim Neighbors
In recent decades, North America and Western Europe have seen a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants from Islamic countries. The demographic impact of this Muslim population and some of the cultural norms often found in its midst—such as polygamy and Sharia courts—deserve to be considered w...
Spirituality
The Forgotten Virtue and How to Employ It
It is urgent, now as ever, that Catholics pray diligently and assiduously (says Our Lady of Fatima to the children) to not only survive, but to beg God to communicate an exponential increase of all the virtues and gifts. And what forgotten virtue is necessary to overcome the temptation to uncontroll...
Spirituality
Caesar May Not Sit on the Altar: Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko and Telling the Truth with Courage
Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man…Tell us then, what is your opinion? During Christ’s last week on earth, the Pharisees tried everything they could to entrap Christ with His own words, but they failed. Getting desperate, they decided to team up with the secular Herodians. They came up w...
Spirituality
Finding Peace in the Midst of AI Hysteria
In the 2007 Coen brothers’ film No Country for Old Men, there is a scene where a conversation takes place that completely shoots down the idea of predicting and manipulating the future to facilitate the ease of one’s life. Tommy Lee Jones’ character, a nearly retired, fully jaded Texas lawman, speak...
Spirituality
4 Ways to Make Family Dinners a Priority Again
Just out of curiosity, Margherita once counted the number of times she had set and cleared the family table since her wedding day; it was nearly fourteen thousand times. She grew up in Reggio Emilia, Italy, where the family meal was simply assumed. A tavola—at the table—was a given. Marcie, on the o...
Spirituality
The Desire for Control Dehumanizes Us
Recently, a news article about baseball sent me down a rabbit hole of theological and philosophical thought. The article caught my attention because my late father was an avid baseball fan. He spent the last 17 years of his life on full-time disability. The last five or so years of his life he was p...