The Ember Days are special days for prayer and fasting during the liturgical year. They correspond to the four seasons, and they focus our attention especially on the blessings of nature. On the Ember Days, we give thanks for blessings we’ve received, but also remind ourselves of our need for penance and grace.

The Celtic Christian tradition has much to offer us living in the modern world. For one, the Celtic people and their descendants possessed an intuitive awareness of God’s presence in all creation—an awareness we moderns have largely lost. From the waves crashing against the craggy Irish coast to the ever-present rain and wind, everything was […]

It’s easy to get complacent in our places of employment, to work for the weekends or to collect a paycheck that helps us live “real” life outside of the workplace. But work should never be meaningless drudgery, nor should it be separate and contained from other aspects of our life. It should rather be an act […]

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15 In the writings of the saints, there is unanimous agreement that the Holy Eucharist is the greatest gift of God to mankind—for it is nothing less than Jesus Christ himself. We are united body and soul to Jesus in the Eucharist, and by receiving […]

“Purgatory shows God’s great mercy and washes away the defects of those who long to become one with Him.” – St. Josemaria Escriva When is the last time you heard a homily on purgatory? If your parish is like most, it’s been a very long time. Getting more personal, when is the last time you […]

Ah, bacon. This deliciously greasy and salty meat is celebrated and enjoyed by men everywhere. Indeed, the global veneration of bacon has become a mania. And what’s not to love? It is the most versatile of meats and the perfect complement for any meal, whether it’s topping a pizza, a side with eggs, or wrapped around […]

“Behold this heart which has so loved men.” – Jesus Christ “Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, of its very nature, is a worship of the love with which God, through Jesus, loved us, and at the same time, an exercise of our own love by which we are related to God and to […]

One of the great things about being Catholic is that the Church has quite literally thought of everything at some point or another. Some inventive cleric even thought to include a beer blessing in the Rituale Romanum (my parish also has an annual wine blessing). Creation is good. Beer is good. Let us rejoice and be glad […]