Category: Spirituality

The path that leads to joy

Fr Joshua J. Whitfield Zep 3:14-18a Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 Phil 4:4-7 Lk 3:10-18   The point is summed up in what Josef Pieper wrote once, that “we are not the forgers of our own felicity.” Of course, he wasn’t at all the only one to say something like this, such has always been true.…

Vows we don’t choose

As a member of a religious order, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, I chose to make four religious vows: poverty, chastity, obedience, and perseverance. I did this freely, with no other compulsion than a strong inner sense that this was being asked of me. That freedom to make vows with no outside pressures, is…

The strange humility of God

“After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord God called to the man and asked him, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.’ Then he asked, ‘Who told you that you were naked?’” (Gn 3:8-11) In…

A view from the Quays

Fr Alan Hilliard   The book of Job is an amazingly insightful work which tries to understand the human condition and the possibility of God. He presents insights into friendship, family, property, money and death. In Scripture, we see him being stripped of all he owns and all he knows and is left with nothing.…

Man’s response: Faith

By his Revelation, God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them. The adequate response to this invitation is faith. By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. To obey in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because…

The heritage of Faith

Catechism of the Catholic Church   Christ commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline. The Gospel was handed on in two ways: orally – preaching – and in writing. The bishops are…

A view from the Quays

Fr Alan Hilliard   I was speaking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. She’s been having a difficult time. To put her son through college and to pay off debts she was working two jobs. Eventually she gave up one of the jobs as she had made financial headway. She is a…

Your redemption is at hand

Fr Joshua J. Whitfield   Jer 33:14-16 Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14 1 Thes 3:12—4:2 Lk 21:25-28, 34-36   Aside from being one of the fathers of monasticism, St Benedict is also one of the more profound spiritual doctors of Advent. At least I have long considered him thus. I think of him every Advent…