Friends, our Gospel for today is the evocative scene of Jesus healing a man who cannot hear and cannot speak. This man is beautifully symbolic of many in our culture today: we don’t listen to God, and therefore we can’t speak clearly about God. To us, as to him, Jesus […]
Teaching
Catholic teaching on a range of topics.
What Is a Miracle?
In this week’s video I discuss what a miracle is, looking at different examples but especially at the miracles of Christ. A miracle is not just an extraordinary event, rather it’s an event that reveals and restores matter to its true identity and meaning. Thank you for your continued support. […]
The Goodness & Dangers of the Law
Friends, as Americans, we have a very ambiguous relationship to law. On the one hand, we are a nation of independently minded people; we don’t like the law imposing itself on us. At the same time—let’s face it—we are a hyper-litigious society. We see the same ambiguity about law—both its […]
What Are the Signs of the Holy Spirit?
Friends, on this Sixth Sunday of Easter, the Church gives us a kind of foretaste of Pentecost. In all three readings, we hear descriptions of the work of the Holy Spirit—the animating principle of the Mystical Body. What are the signs that the Holy Spirit is at work? Let’s look […]
Really, Truly, and Substantially Present
Friends, we continue reading from the sixth chapter of John, this pivotal section of the New Testament where John lays out his Eucharistic theology. And we come today to the rhetorical high point of this discourse, where things really come to a head. It is the ground of the doctrine […]
The Catholic Response to the Enlightenment (and its Brainchild, Marxism)
In this video, we examine the relationship between Enlightenment atheistic thought and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Header image: Historia Ecclesiastica via YouTube.com
Strength for the Journey
Friends, we’re continuing our reading of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, which is all about the Eucharist. And here’s my take on our reading for today: A long trip by car or plane can be uncomfortable, even overwhelming. But we’re heading somewhere else; we’re on a journey. […]
Everything in This World Passes Away
Description: Friends, in the midst of our country’s great Eucharistic Revival, we continue our reading of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. And this week, I want to reflect on a line that names something so spiritually basic: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the […]
How Should We Understand Miracles?
Friends, over 83 percent of Americans still believe in miracles, but what, specifically, are miracles? What are the grounds for believing in them, especially for non-eye witnesses? In the Catholic context, who has the authority to deem an event miraculous? Should Catholics incorporate devotions to Church-approved supernatural events like apparitions […]
The Gift of Tongues Explained
Dr. Mary Healy, professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, editor of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, and consultor to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, addresses concerns and questions about the gift of tongues in the life of the Catholic […]
The Power of Eucharistic Adoration
Source: Bishop Robert Barron via YouTube.com. Friends, we come to the great Feast of Corpus Christi—the Body and Blood of Christ. This year, as the Church in the US is going through a lengthy Eucharistic Revival, it’s good for us once again to turn to this greatest of sacraments. What […]
Get to Work!
Premiered on 11 May 2024 Bishop Barron’s Sunday SermonsFriends, today we come to the wonderful Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. Like the disciples in our first reading, we often want to ask the Lord, “When is all of this going to come to fruition? What’s it all about? […]