At the beginning of every year, we make resolutions about how we want to live out the new year. Of course, in the coming days we will hear more about new year’s resolutions from many different people.
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For Catholics, Advent is not merely a prelude to Christmas; it is a sacred season of anticipation, rest, and stillness.
This December, the Diocese of Dallas is preparing to enter an extraordinary phase in its history with a diocesan synod. This four-day assembly, being held Dec. 1-4, is a culmination of years of preparation, input, and discernment that brought together representatives from across the diocese to offer feedback to Bishop Edward J. Burns in his decisions on governance of the diocese. Here are five essential things to know about this historic event.
People travel for many reasons — some for pleasure, some for business, others for spiritual purposes, and many for other individual reasons. Travel educates us, because by traveling we learn about people, cultures, and places — and sometimes great or weird things as well.
As another election concludes, Catholics should remember we are responsible for helping to unify our country. One way to do that is to announce together the Church’s prophetic call to both parties.
When Moses asks God to provide a name that he might share with the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, “God replied to Moses: ‘I am who I am.’ Then He added: ‘This is what you will tell the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.’ God spoke further to Moses: ‘This is what you will say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14-15).
What is a man? That’s a wonderful question that seems difficult to raise without provoking strong reactions. On the one hand, there are polarizing responses whose proponents seem almost to enjoy being maligned, since the hostility they experience enhances their self-image as gutsy truthtellers. On the other hand, there are also anxious responses that compulsively censor or deconstruct every effort to define masculinity, lest they or anyone in their in-group feel lacking and called to grow.
I’m sure you may be wondering about the title of this article. Well, to be honest, I’m not too sure about it myself. But what I know for certain is that I was drafting this article during a moment of reflection, and I spontaneously came up with this title. I thought I should go ahead and continue writing, since the title is itself a product of my reflection. Sometimes wild moments come with wild reflections!
Christians are required to apologize for their faith. They do this in one of two ways.
The rosary as we have it today developed over many centuries. As early as the 2nd or 3rd century, monks in the desert used knotted ropes as they prayed. The rosary itself became known as “The Poor Man’s Breviary.” Since most people couldn’t read or pray the 150 Psalms of the Bible as was done in monasteries, the practice of substituting an Our Father and later a Hail Mary for each of the Psalms gradually grew up. Mysteries were added later still, focal points for reflecting on the key events in the life of Jesus and Mary, from the Annunciation to the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth.