Unearned Luck

Photo by Tom Roberts on Unsplash Masks are how we protect ourselves or so someone said a long time ago. We wear masks, so others won't come to know the person we perceive ourselves to be. "I don't want you to discover the monster I truly am, so I will pretend to be a jewel around you." That's how it often goes, right? Social media is a great place to observe this. No one ever posts who they really are. The vast majority post who they would like to be. A few post the monsters they believe themselves to be. All of them want someone else to acknowledge the illusion as reality. For example, a Catholic on Twitter tweeted a list of the saints to whom he prays at the end of each rosary he prays and that was it. He didn't ask for feedback or a response of any kind. Why? How are his personal prayer habits relevant to me? Doesn't this seem to violate Christ's injunction to close the door of your room, when you pray ( Matthew 5:5-6 )? Was he trying...

  Today is the feast of St. Peter Claver. Below is a quote of his. It behooves me always to imitate the example of the ass. He never complains in any circumstances, for he is only an ass. So also must God's servant, the priest, be. May God grant all of our bishops, priests, and ourselves the humility to imitate the example of the ass.

The following was related to me by a friend.  His story made me think very seriously about what an ass I have been in very similar situations. "If we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth...If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us....If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us."    -1 John 1:6a, 8, 10 At dinner the other night a friend of mine told me about a date he had had a while back with a very intelligent, very successful woman.  He said that they had had a few, very good conversations before the time they actually went out.  Everything prior to the date seemed to suggest that they would have a very good time together. Their date finally arrived.  Both of them confessed to nervousness and excitement.  She had brought a bottle of wine for them to share, since they had some time to kill before heading to the...

There are six things which the L ORD hates, seven which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers . - Proverbs 6:16-19 John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us."  But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me.  For he that is not against us is for us." - St. Mark 9:38-40 It is already so easy for the average Catholic in the pew to feel isolated.  Most parishioners relate through the parish school and the extra-curricular activities surrounding the school.  Catholics without children in the parish school are out of luck.  Most Catholics are so harried and exhausted that they pass...