Towards the end of each liturgical year, the Church reflects upon the end of time. “The ‘resurrection of all the dead’… will precede [Christ’s coming] ‘in his glory, and all the angels with him.... Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats’” (CCC 1038). This anticipation...

Christ showed his disciples repeatedly that he’s not a God of lip service. What he says, he does. In fact, his word is effective and performative—it does what it says. When he said, “Let there be light,” there was light. When he said, “Be healed,” healing happened. When he said, “This is my body,” the first Eucharist was consecrated. What he says to us, he will do....

Our Lord knows what he is doing. The parable of today's Gospel mentions how the master gave these talents “each according to his ability.” We can be confident that he expects us to use what he has given us for his glory. It is not so much about how many or the types of talents we are given, but what we choose to do with them that matters to our Master. Many times we...

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” This leper desperately wanted to be cured, yet he approached the Lord in homage and asked, “If you wish.” What humility! Here is a lesson for me. When I pray, I don’t tell God what I want or think is best. Instead, I totally surrender to his will for me. Do I want what God wants for me or what I want? Pope Benedict XVI...

We can certainly surmise, looking around at our current culture, that there are many broad roads leading to destruction. But, as faithful followers of Christ, how are we expected to respond to Our Lord’s description of the narrow and constricted gate that leads to life? Only a few find it. How many is “a few”? Would this “few” include me, my friends, those I pray...

St. Augustine taught of the Eucharist, “Behold the mystery of your salvation laid out for you; behold what you are, become what you receive.” When we eat regular food, it is transformed and becomes part of us. But in a mysterious way, when we consume Jesus’s Body in the Eucharist, it does not become our flesh; in fact, we are transformed into him. We become like...

I offer to you the little that I have because I know you will be pleased with it. I only wish to serve you with much joy and freedom in my heart. How often I practice selective listening! Our Lord wants my full attention when I encounter him in prayer. He wants to shower me with grace, call me to action, heal, and restore me. To be sure I hear the whole message,...

What greater love could there be than to give the gift of yourself, your very life, for someone you love? No words, no romantic gestures, no gifts of gold could compare. Life is precious, and giving your life for another is equally as precious. St. Thomas Aquinas said that “To love is to will the good of the other.” Christ gave his life for us in the ultimate act of...

French essayist Michel Eyquem de Montaigne wrote, "The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet live very little." The truth is that you can spend your life any way you want, but you can spend it only once. Becoming a follower of Jesus can hel you to live with wholeness, to live a very fulfilling life. A a...

Jesus question was not only rooted in followers surprise at seeing him alive again, but went even deeper and further. It was an existential question that pierces every generation. It is the question to every follower who has yet to be transformed by the Resurrection. It is Jesus’s question to you today: “Why are you troubled?” Why do you doubt all that Jesus...