Know - Grow - Go

Living with a resentful heart is a dark place to be. St. Thomas Aquinas described envy as “sorrow over another person’s good.” Envy makes us resent the good that others receive. Gratitude does just the opposite: it teaches us to rejoice in God’s generosity, even toward someone we think doesn’t deserve it. But God’s grace is not measured out according to what we have earned. It is gift: freely and...

If we truly know who Jesus is, that knowledge cannot remain only in our minds or on our lips. A relationship with Christ inevitably begins to reshape the way we live. Jesus still asks each of us, "Who do you say that I am?" The most powerful answer will not be the one we give with only our lips — or post online — but the one we give with our lives.

Readings at this Mass: Is 22:19-23 | Rom 11:33–36 | Mt 16:13&ndas...

Beauty is still one of the most - maybe the most - potent way we have of experiencing and encountering God. It retains this ability to disarm us, to lower our defenses, to capture and captivate us, to invoke a sense of the transcendent. God uses beauty to touch hearts, to lift people out of despair, to soften their cynicism, to lighten their darkness - and He wants to do that for you as well.

Readings at this Mass: Rv 11:19a; 12:1...

Following Christ requires trust, and trust involves risk. The good news is that, when we follow Jesus, we are never alone; even when we falter, He is there. We may prefer to cling to whatever makes us feel safe — our routines, our plans, our familiar ways of doing things. But sometimes Jesus asks us to let go of those things and trust Him instead.

Readings at this Mass: 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11–13a | Rom 9:1–5 | Mt 14:22&...

One of our most fundamental desires, whether we recognize it or not, is a hunger for God. Because of our brokenness, however, we often try to satisfy that hunger with created things. Our desires, in their deepest sense, come from God and are meant to lead us back to Him. The key is to keep our hearts directed toward the Giver, not merely toward His gifts. Every daily blessing points beyond themselves to God, who alone can fulfill u...

What fruit is God producing in your life? And through that fruit, what seeds are you scattering into the lives of others? There are parts of our lives where God’s Word has taken deep root and is bearing fruit. There are other parts crowded by anxiety, distracted by the world, or hardened by disappointment and sin. If that’s you, don’t lose hope: God is still in the business of cultivating hearts.

Readings at this...

When the world, social media, or certain politicians and podcasters, would have us see one another as enemies, remember that this is demonic in the most basic sense of the word — “demon” from the Greek word meaning to divide or to scatter. As we celebrate 250 years together, my challenge to you is to resist that scattering. Cast out the demonic. There’s a lot of good out there, my friends, if we’re wil...

Our true freedom can only come from dependence on God, who has endowed us with the gift of life won through His suffering and death. And that it is only through our humble acceptance of Christ into our lives that we — ourselves and this dearly beloved country of ours — will not perish from the earth, but will truly inherit the freedom of the sons and daughters of God, and will have true and eternal life.

Readings at th...

The problem, as we know, is that we don’t get heaven until we get to heaven. There is no human solution to all of our ills and troubles. So here’s the question we all need to sit with: can we find peace living in an imperfect world filled with imperfect people? Can you be patient and trusting with the ups and downs, the insults and injuries, even the tragedies of life, trusting that God will accompany you through them a...

Sometimes, we slip into the mindset that Catholicism is just a strict recipe: a bunch of rules we must execute perfectly to get God to love us. Many of us still imagine that God operates transactionally. But God's love doesn't react to our behavior — it precedes our very existence. He does not love us only when we finally clean up our lives; we are only capable of changing our lives because He loved us first. Let's obey God's...

Christ is not inviting us to excess or self-indulgence, but in making Himself bread and wine, He is blessing the ordinary and the extraordinary. Sustenance and celebration. He comes to us through symbols of the fullness of life in every stage and season. And these elements of bread and wine become not only our life-giving food, but much more. When we eat this bread and drink this wine we receive Christ’s life – the life...

The way to protect our hearts from ever being broken is to seal them off and never take the risk of love; to close ourselves off. And that is the opposite of what the Trinity is. The Trinity is outpouring, complete self-giving. And that means being broken. It means taking a risk. Love means we are going to be hurt, but love doesn't care. Love is willing to take the risk. And love knows that life is better, that everything is better...

Today is the day when Christ wants to be united to us in a more fundamental and definitive way than we could possibly imagine. He wants to invite us to step out of all the small, partisan things we get so fixated on. The disciples were freed from all of that when they received the presence of God. They realized there is a bigger picture. This is not to say these small things don't matter or that we shouldn't care, but ...