The Gospel Reading for the Mass for Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent is a curious one: Matthew 20:17-28: "As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,and said to them on the way,'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,and the Son of Man will be handed over t...

When you work in Catholic settings, such as in a parish, you begin to think about the hallmarks of Christian leadership. Let me get to the jugular right away: the hallmark is humility. When Jesus washed the feet of the Apostles in the Gospel of John, the Lord was making a symbolic statement through ...

When I began to write this post, I looked for a dozen passages in the Scriptures that Christians in the West largely ignored in practice, despite mentally assenting to the truths contained therein. But what scared me as I delved into this was that far too many passages of the Scriptures are simply i...

The doorbell rang at my home yesterday morning to a not uncommon visit from two members of the Jehovah Witness Church. This is I’m sure a common occurrence for many readers, as I can remember my home receiving similar visits from the time I was a child. Over the past several years, I have made it ...

The Readings for Mass for the Saturday in the First Week of Lent have a theme that essentially states that following the law of the Lord (keeping His commandments and doing His will) brings happiness. I will just post a link to all three readings instead of copying-and-pasting them here: Readings fo...

Last week, Cliff Barbarick made a comment on this blog that spoke about the true nature of mentoring.  What he said ought to be heard by all of us who are both mentors and who have a mentor(s).  I love what he says about mentoring as an act of humility. Cliff Barbarick is a part-time Famil...

The Second Step of 12 Step recovery movements is: "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." "Came to believe" implies a process in which you once didn't believe, but eventually adopted a belief. This is known as conversion. "Recovery" is a distinct form of con...

On this, the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, the message is clear: Luke 9:22-25: "Jesus said to his disciples:'The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejectedby the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,and be killed and on the third day be raised.' Then he said to all,'If anyone wishes to com...

Here's a letter that I sent a few days ago to the Washington Times: Dear Editor: President Obama proclaimed that "The American people are watching.  They need this [stimulus] plan to work.  They expect to see the money they've earned, they've worked so hard to earn, spent in its intended purposes"...

Here's something from John Piper's What Jesus Demands from the World (p. 131): In Matthew 18:4 Jesus says, "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." The Greek verb for "humble" did not generally describe a positive virtue in Jesus' day. It meant generally to...