Until just a few weeks ago, I knew precious little about my mother’s side of the family. She passed away young, when she was 39 and I was 10; that was in the late 1970s. Other than her sister, who moved out to California not long after my mother’s death, I don’t remember ever meeting…
As the Catholic Church celebrates the season of Lent, it is good for the faithful to understand what the true meaning of this liturgical season is. Many Catholics may rightfully associate the season of Lent with repentance and doing penance for our sins. This is all too appropriate for the season leading up to Easter,…
Part 1 | Part 2 The best way to walk through the door of the Confessional is to regularly pray and ask the Lord to lead you there whenever you need it. Remember this, ponder this, and let this sink in all the way: If the soul is in a state of Mortal Sin it…
Part 1 | Part 2 The Sacrament of Penance (now commonly called “Reconciliation”) is the ordinary means by which the Christian soul is restored to an objective State of Grace/Habitual Grace/Sanctifying Grace. The soul must be in the State of Sanctifying Grace at the moment of death for it to be welcomed by God into…
Here is an idea I’d like to propose to my brother priests. Make the Sacrament of Confession as accessible as possible. For me, I knew it was difficult (if not impossible), to sit over in Church in the Confessional all day. Parish life is quite a bit more demanding than the days of St. John…
