Sunday reading

We will focus on the next corporal works of mercy, “harbor the harborless” (shelter the homeless).

The Vatican highlighted this particular work of mercy this year when the new “Gift of Mercy” homeless shelter was established in October.

Even Pope Francis made a surprise visit. Read more »

The third corporal work of mercy, “clothe the naked,” seems rather straightforward.

One would think that it simply means to give clothes to someone who doesn’t have any.

While that certainly is an aspect of this work of mercy, it does not paint the whole picture. Read more »

St. Agnes of Rome was born in 291 AD and raised in a Christian family.

Agnes was very beautiful and belonged to a wealthy family. Her hand in marriage was highly sought after, and she had many high ranking men chasing after her.

However, Agnes made a promise to God never to stain her purity. Her love for the Lord was great and she hated sin even more than death! Read more »

The second corporal work of mercy might seem redundant but is in fact a separate work of mercy.

“To give drink to the thirsty” is similar to the action of “feeding the hungry,” but addresses a different need of the body and is not easily accomplished.

There are many parts of the world, even in our own country, where fresh drinking water is scarce or impossible to find. Read more »

Let us examine the seven corporal works of mercy. These works of mercy focus on serving the visible needs of our neighbor and should not be neglected.

There is a real temptation to only care about the spiritual poverty in the world and to entirely forget about the poor man at our own door step.

We must fight against this temptation and seek to serve all the needs of our neighbor. Read more »

From the very beginnings of Christianity, the grotto where Jesus was born has been revered as one of the most sacred places in the world.

Today, it is designated a World Heritage Site and Roman Catholics from all over the world gather here every Christmas Eve for Midnight Mass.

When you visit as a pilgrim, you travel back in time to the first Christmas. You look up at the same stars and out at the same shepherds’ fields. Read more »

The Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday evening was freed of the brick wall which has hidden it since the Holy Year of 2000.

The Recognitio ceremony took place on Tuesday evening and was led by the Basilica’s Cardinal Archpriest Angelo Comastri.

After a procession and short prayer service led by Cardinal Comastri, workers began to carefully remove the wall, extracting a small, metal box which conserved mementos from the Great Jubilee of the year 2000. Read more »

“Open wide the doors to Christ,” urged John Paul II during the homily at the Mass when he was installed as pope in 1978.

Born in Wadowice, Poland, Karol Jozef Wojtyla had lost his mother, father and older brother before his 21st birthday.

Karol’s promising academic career at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. Read more »

The following passage from Luke is related to the Endtime, that period expected fervently by the early Church, when Jesus, the Son of Man, would come in glory to lead his people into his heavenly kingdom.

But this final coming was not just a time of salvation but also of judgment.

As such, it was a cause of nervous apprehension. Read more »

As we read the Gospels we come across the numerous cures which Jesus performed.

In fact we have no record that Jesus ever turned any sick person away, no matter how tired he may have been, no matter how imperfect the faith of the one who asked.

The Gospel writers were always aware that the healing miracles of Jesus were performed in a context, and that context was the presence of the ‘reign of God.’ Read more »