Prayer
In the Lord’s Prayer we pray “thy will be done.” We say it but do we mean it? Are we willing to completely set aside our own will to completely abandon ourselves to God’s Will? I would like to use…
Read MoreAfter we confessing our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receiving a penance, we say an Act of Contrition. This expresses our sorrow for our sins. We say the Act of Contrition as part of the ritual of the…
Read MoreWhen I pray, there are two images I like to use. They are images of the same thing. The first image is: and the second image is: One might look at these images and say, “Father, they are not images…
Read MoreIn our Catholic faith, we have two formal creeds, the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. However, having two creeds does not mean we profess two different faiths. The two creeds are very similar in their content (you can see…
Read MoreWe are called to pray. Jesus spent time in prayer. If Jesus prayed, then all the more we need to. When you read the word “prayer”, what comes to mind? Is the Rosary the first thing that comes to mind?…
Read MoreIn October I wrote two separate blog articles reflecting on The Serenity Prayer and the Prayer of St. Francis. Two years ago, I shared a homily from a holy hour reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer. Today I would like to…
Read MoreIn the past, the understanding by many was that Catholics were supposed to “pray, pay, and obey” to be good Catholics. (A search on the Internet shows the order of the first two, pray and pay, are sometimes switched). The…
Read MoreLast week I posted an article, “Do People Understand What Jesus Does for Us?” In that article, I discussed Jesus’ action to save us from our sins. My inspiration for that article came from Clear and Simple: How to Have…
Read MoreDear Lord, It has been a challenging year and we still have two months to go. The challenges have come in various ways. Perhaps the one most obvious to all is the Coronavirus Pandemic. Our greatest concern is for those…
Read MoreIn the 1930’s, Reinhold Neibuhr (1892-1971) developed the Serenity Prayer. The first four lines have become well-known. God grant me the serenityto accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. It…
Read MoreOctober 4th is the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi. He is one of the most popular saints and is known as the patron saint of animals. So, it is a custom for some parishes to offer a pet…
Read MoreRecently I was watching the news about the wildfires on the West Coast. They say that over 4 million acres have burned this year. California has already passed their record for the number of acres burned in a single year…
Read MoreOne of the topics I have covered a few times during the Coronavirus is prayer (see https://blog.renewaloffaith.org/?cat=12 for those articles & homilies). Today I would like to cover a particular form of prayer required of clergy and religious but an…
Read More20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year AIsaiah 56:1, 6-7Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 (4)Romans 11:13-15, 29-32Matthew 15:21-28August 16, 2020 A Canaanite woman came to Jesus seeking help for her daughter who was “tormented by a demon.” Many people came to…
Read More19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13aPsalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14, (8)Romans 9:1-5Matthew 14:22-33August 9, 2020 After sending his disciples on their way, Jesus “went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” There He encountered God…
Read MoreWhen we celebrate Mass we are praying together. What do you pray for on your own? How often do you pray? Today, I would like to talk about two of my daily prayer intentions. If you have come to daily…
Read MoreEarlier this week I wrote a blog article, “Silence, How Much and When” where I talked about silence in private prayer as well as silence at Mass. Now, I would like to discuss how silence at Mass needs to be…
Read MoreIn the midst of the Coronavirus you may find yourself alone or in small groups of just your family far more often than normal. Does that necessarily mean we have more “silence”? That depends on what you do with your…
Read MoreDuring the Coronavirus shutdown I have been reading books that have been sitting on my shelf for a while. This week I read Rev. Evan Pilkington’s Paths to Personal Prayer (Twenty-Third Publications: Mystic, Connecticut. 1988. The edition I read is…
Read MoreWhat was your life like before the Coronavirus? Maybe you were very busy at work. Maybe you were very busy with your children’s (or grandchildren’s) activities. Maybe you are retired and you didn’t do much because it always seemed like…
Read MoreWe are not currently able to gather together to celebrate Mass because of the Coronavirus. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith (Lumen Gentium, 11). Thus, this time without public celebration of the Eucharist might seem a…
Read More30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CSirach 35:12-14, 16-18Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23 (7a)2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18Luke 18:9-14October 27, 2019 We continue to hear about prayer in our readings this week. Today, the question addressed start with whose prayer gets…
Read More29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CExodus 17:8-13Psalm 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 (see 2)2 Timothy 3:14-4:2Luke 18:1-8October 20, 2019 Jesus tells us to “pray always”. Really? How can anyone pray “always”? We have to sleep or we will become “weary”. …
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