Editor’s Note: Post originally publiched on October 8, 2019.
The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote, “The soul is healed by being with children.” This Sunday, I experienced the truth contained in that quote. It was the first class for Religious Education at my parish. Going into my third year of volunteering as a catechist, I was comfortable with the subject matter, but I was a bit nervous about teaching third and fourth graders for the first time ever. Previously, I taught high school and middle school students.
Begin with the Trinity
The starting lesson was on the Holy Trinity. While that teaching is the most essential belief of Christianity it is also the most misunderstood and easy to fall into heresy. How could I explain this doctrine to younger students without getting too theological or technical?
In hindsight, I always am reminded that it was pointless to worry. Everything turned out fine. St. Paul wrote, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (Philippians 4:6-7). I have since bookmarked this passage. Although I failed to petition God for aid before the lesson, I am expressing my gratitude in Him using my students as instruments to remind me of wondrous truths contained in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.
There is a family I know—a mother, a father, and three children—who arrived in America with nothing but hope and the clothes on their backs. They had fled unrest in their homeland, crossing an ocean, believing in the promise of a new life. But when they arrived, the world was not so welcoming. The language was foreign, the winters bit through their thin jackets, and neighbors eyed them with suspicion. The children were teased at school for their accents. The father’s hard-earned degree meant nothing here; he swept floors at night while the mother cleaned houses. They grew weary, and bitterness crept in. But then, one Sunday, they wandered into a small Catholic church.
There, a kind parishioner greeted them, and soon the parish wrapped them in unexpected warmth. Yet the pain lingered—until one evening, during a prayer service, the pastor spoke about forgiveness: how it is not just for those who have wronged us, but for our own hearts’ healing. The family prayed for those who had mistreated them. Slowly, a new peace took root. Not long after, they began volunteering at the church, helping other newcomers. The love they received, and the forgiveness they offered, built something beautiful—a small reflection of the Kingdom of God, right here in their new home.
Editor’s Note: Post originally published on June 1, 2019.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 675, “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.” This Sunday Catholics across the world will celebrate the feast of the Ascension. Until recently, this high feast was celebrated on a Thursday—forty days after Easter. From a traditional standpoint normally a 10 day period existed from Ascension to the Coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Regardless, of the precise days, the main point is that for a brief period, the Apostles and early disciples of Jesus lived in a transition period from when Jesus no longer visibly existed in the similar manner that he did previously and the official descent of the Holy Spirit.
Suffering from a severe dryness in my spiritual life this Easter season got me thinking: maybe I am in a transitory period myself whereby the descent of the Holy Spirit is not apparent in my life. I feel completely dried up—spiritually! Obviously, my situation is not exactly the same as the 1st century Christians who had to live for an awkward [and maybe apathetic] period before the official reception of the Paraclete. Nevertheless, maybe your life is at a stage similar to that awkward week and a half—pondering the return of Christ, experiencing doubt in Divine Providence, or possibly even living in fear or distress. Reflecting on Acts 1-2 and wisdom from the tradition of the Church—through the Catechism and the saints—I came up with three methods [not really earth-shattering] to avoid awkwardness and apathy in your spiritual life in the days after the Ascension!
Drink from the Wellspring of Worship
The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). I have probably cited this paragraph more than any other passage, yet it is vitally important to the Catholic faith. What sustained the Apostles in the early Church while waiting for the Paraclete? The body of and blood of Jesus Christ in the form of the Eucharist—it is the wellspring, the origin of worship!
Although Jesus’ physical existence did not appear the same after his Ascension, he is still present to the Apostles [and to us] body, blood, soul, and divinity in the sacrament of the Eucharist. St. Pope John Paul II mentioned the importance of this sacrament in his encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, “Her [The Church] foundation and wellspring is the whole Triduum paschale, but this is as it were gathered up, foreshadowed and “concentrated’ forever in the gift of the Eucharist” (no. 5). During periods of spiritual dryness we may be able to sojourn to the spiritual oasis of the Mass.
Hail, Mary: Mother of Perpetual Help, Mother of Good Counsel
Josemaria Escriva declared, “Love our Lady. And she will obtain abundant grace to help you conquer in your daily struggle.” I imagine the days following Jesus’ Ascension was a perilous time for Peter and the rest of the Apostles. During the most confusing and perilous times in my life it appears that Jesus is not present—the most difficult days lands in the middle of the work week when I lack the time to attend daily Mass or ability to go to Eucharistic adoration. Here is where my devotion to Mary is key to sustaining me during the staleness of my spiritual life. Jesus augmented Mary’s motherhood in John 19:27 with a simple command, “Woman, behold your son!” This is a reciprocal relationship as a mere verse later Our Lord urged the Apostle John [who represented humanity both individually and collectively] with the charge: “Behold, your mother!”
From my own experience, I normally contact my mom first [when my wife is not available!] after an incredibly stressful and frustrating day. This is not to downplay the role of my father, but there is something unique, almost mysterious about the ability for mother to sooth children in need. The Blessed Virgin Mary is no different. Mother of Perpetual Help pray for us. Mother of Good Counsel pray for us.
Trust in the Holy Spirit
The great scientist Isaac Asimov once purported, “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” While the first two points of his statement may be debatable, it is quite difficult to argue that turning points in life, no matter how large or small, pose a challenge for everyone. Transitioning from physically seeing the Resurrected Christ to the age of the Church would have been a tough transitory event as well!
Jesus prepared his followers of the coming of the Holy Spirit prior to his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. According to Christ in John 14:15-19, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate* to be with you always, 17 the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.”
While the Holy Spirit did not formally descend upon the Apostles in the Upper Room until Pentecost Sunday, the power of the Holy Spirit allowed Jesus to be substantially present in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Paraclete also guided Peter and the other Apostles in selecting a worthy replacement for Judas. Moreover, just before his Ascension Jesus repeated his promise to send another Helper to fortify his followers: “But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you,g and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Hope Always Never Despair
Although you may in a spiritual dry spell [if not now you most certainly will encounter aridity and acedia—spiritual sloth– sometime in your life!], please do not despair. Hope is always on the horizon. Through the sacrament of the Eucharist, guide of Mary, and promise of the help of the Holy Spirit we receive strength and sustenance make it past any awkward and apathetic period in our spiritual journey. Never give up—hope in the Lord always!
The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity (CCC 1818).
There’s a story from the streets of Calcutta that I think about often. It’s the story of a woman so small in stature you could miss her in a crowd, but whose spirit somehow filled entire cities. Mother Teresa, now Saint Teresa of Calcutta, walked into the slums with little more than her faith and the conviction that the Holy Spirit was alive within her.
She once wrote, “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” Through her, God’s love was not just spoken, but lived—heart to heart, hand to hand, life to life. Mother Teresa allowed the Spirit of God to flow through her, reaching the most forgotten souls and building up, out of dust and poverty, the Kingdom of God.
Easter Sunday stands as the radiant heart of Christianity, the day the Church rejoices in the living truth that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This isn’t just a commemoration of a past event. It’s the foundation of our faith and the beginning of a new creation. As the Catechism teaches, “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ” (CCC 638). When we say ‘Christ is risen,’ we proclaim that God’s love has conquered sin and death and now invites every believer to live a new kind of life.
The Meaning of Easter Sunday
In Catholic tradition, Sunday takes on new meaning because of Easter. It is the “first day of the week,” recalling the first creation, and at the same time, the “eighth day,” symbolizing the dawn of a new creation (CCC 349). The Resurrection did not simply end something. It began something entirely new. That’s why every Sunday is, in truth, a “weekly Easter,” and why the Church gathers around the Risen Lord week after week to encounter Him at the table of the Eucharist.
Easter celebrates the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. While it’s fine to enjoy the lighthearted customs of the season, like colorful eggs or the Easter bunny for the kids, it’s essential to remember that these traditions flow from the deeper mystery of Christ’s victory. The Resurrection is about real transformation. It is God’s renewal breaking into the world, into our world.
Below is a letter I dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ in celebration of his birth, December 25, 2020 Anno Domini.
Dear Baby Jesus,
In a stable, 2000 years ago, a seemingly ordinary infant was born. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, shepherds and kings from afar learned about His incredible presence. God uses the most common of circumstances to work the greatest of all miracles–the Incarnation. God so loved the world He sent you–His only Son– to bridge the great gulf, the separation caused by sin.
Wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger, you my king took the form of mankind. I have heard the Nativity story dozens of times. This Advent I feared I would take your origin story for granted. Instead, I am grateful for the opportunity to gaze on the Nativity scene through new eyes–not merely of a follower, but also as a father.
My children are a reminder of your goodness, truth, and beauty. Seeing the twinkle in their eyes when they gaze at the Nativity Scene at home or church is priceless. The smiles on my kids faces as they color “presents” pictures for my wife and I remind me the true reason for the season!
People are born everyday on this earth, but only once a year do we remember the greatest birth of all.
Jesus my servant king, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, God-hero, I adore you and celebrate with my family and friends the anniversary of your birth. I pray that my heart is enlarged to make room within the inn of my soul for you, my family, friends, and people I meet daily!
Praised be to God in the Highest and Alleluia for our Savior’s arrival.
With great love and gratitude,
Your adopted son,
Matthew
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
Every year on August 15, Catholics around the world celebrate one of the Church’s most beautiful feasts: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Alongside the feasts of the Immaculate Conception (December 8) and Mary, Mother of God (January 1), this is a Holy Day of Obligation, a day when we gather for Mass to honor the Mother of God.
And let’s be clear — we venerate Mary, we do not worship her. All true Marian devotion leads us closer to Jesus. The Church teaches that the mysteries of Mary’s life inseparably connect to the mystery of Christ.
The Assumption celebrates that, at the end of her earthly life, God took Mary up body and soul into heavenly glory. This is not simply a personal privilege for her: it is a sign of what God desires for all of us. The Catechism describes it beautifully: Continue reading →
