Sacraments
Last night I offered a new presentation, Why Should I Go to Confession?. The recording of the video and the slides are now available on my website at https://www.renewaloffaith.org/whyconfession. If you view the video in the next few days, you can complete…
Read MoreRecently I wrote an article, “When to Call the Priest,” to help people understand the change of understanding from Extreme Unction/Last Rites to the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Today I would like to offer some thoughts on…
Read MoreJesus Christ instituted seven Sacraments as channels of God offering his grace to us (see my series, Sacraments: Channels of God’s Grace for our Catholic understanding of the Sacraments). These are divided into three categories, initiation, healing, and service. There…
Read MoreYou may have heard there are changes coming to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The changes will be mandatory as of Divine Mercy Sunday, which falls on April 16th this year (2023). (The changes were optional as of Ash Wednesday this…
Read MoreLast night I completed my series of presentations, The Eucharist: The Greatest Gift with Part III. You can see Part III at www.renewaloffaith.org/greatestgiftpart3 You can see the entire series at www.renewaloffaith.org/greatestgift For the next few days you can complete at…
Read MoreLast night, I continued my series, The Greatest Gift: The Eucharist“, with Part II. I just uploaded the video recording of the webinar and the slides to my website at https://www.renewaloffaith.org/greatestgiftpart2 . If you view the video in the next few days, you…
Read MoreI began my new series, The Greatest Gift: The Eucharist“, yesterday with Part I. I just uploaded the video recording of the webinar and the slides to my website at https://www.renewaloffaith.org/greatestgiftpart1 . If you view the video in the next…
Read MoreThis is the ninth article in my series based on my reading of the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis De Sales. Written 400 years ago, it is available in various translations. I am reading the 2015 version published by…
Read MoreHere is the “announcement” of my next series of presentations! The Greatest Gift:Â The Eucharist A New Series of Presentations by Fr. Jeff The Eucharist we receive is the Body and Blood of Jesus. It is the Sacrifice of Jesus…
Read MoreLast week I began a series of articles inspired by my present reading of St. Francis De Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life. The first article was “What Does It Mean to be Devout?”. I ended that article with a…
Read MoreI started my new series of presentations, Finding Peace and Healing in a Troubled World, last night with Part I. You can find the video recording and slides on my website at www.renewaloffaith.org/healing1. If you watch the video, for the…
Read MoreWith this Sunday’s celebration of the Baptism of the Lord our Christmas season ends. Christmas is a time of great hope. We hear the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth, we see Jesus laying in the manger, and our hearts are…
Read MoreIn the gospel for today (27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B), the Pharisees asked Jesus a question. They asked this question to test him. They were looking for a way to prove He was not the Messiah. While their…
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 MoreAmong the numerous pages on my website, you can find one on “Vocations.” There you will find information about “vocation” in general and how everyone is called to live as priest, prophet, and king from their baptism. You will also…
Read MoreThe Baptism of the LordIsaiah 55:1-11Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6 (3)1 John 5:1-9Mark 1:7-11January 10, 2021 Our Christmas season will end this evening following our celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our…
Read MoreIn the third video presentation in my series, Sacraments: Channels of God’s Grace, on the Eucharist, I addressed the question of “Who Can Receive the Eucharist” in slides 36-38. I began with the general question speaking about the need to…
Read More29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year AIsaiah 45:1, 4-6Psalm 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10 (7b)1 Thessalonians 1:1-5bMatthew 22:15-21October 18, 2020 We gather on this 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today is also October 18th. This is the feast of St.…
Read MoreAt Baptism, we are asked six questions as our “baptismal promises.” (When we are baptized as infants, our parents answer for us.) At Confirmation we renew our baptismal promises ourselves. Each year at Easter time, we renew them. We respond,…
Read More13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16aPsalm 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19 (2a)Romans 6:3-4, 8-11Matthew 10:37-42June 28, 2020 We are Christians. We believe in Jesus. We need to take this seriously. Jesus himself tells us the we must love…
Read MorePrior to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) it was common for Catholics to go to Confession at least monthly if not every other week. Some even went weekly. For some it didn’t matter if they didn’t know of any mortal…
Read MoreLast night was the final presentation in my series, Sacraments: Channels of God’s Grace, We covered the Sacraments of Service, Marriage and Holy Orders. We are still under the Coronavirus shutdown so there was no in-person presentation. Instead, we did…
Read MoreIn late February through early March, I wrote a series of blog articles on the question, “How do you evangelize a culture that used to be Christian?”. (Here’s a link to the final article in the series that in turn…
Read MoreI was scheduled to do the next presentation in my series on the Sacraments on March 25th. Like so many other things, because of the Coronavirus, that in-person has been cancelled. Because of the uncertainty of how long it will…
Read MoreI just uploaded the video of my latest presentation in my series on the Sacraments. This video is almost two hours because the Eucharist is so important. Peace, Fr. Jeff P.S. Please pray that in future presentations, I always go…
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