The Bible has undergone something of a revival in recent years. The Canadian psychologist, Jordan Peterson, drew global appeal with his lengthy YouTube commentaries on the book of Genesis. Fr. Mike Schmitz’s ‘Bible in a Year’ podcast maintained over 400,000 daily...
What is the Bible? What is the Bible? Where did it come from? The Bible is not one book. It is a library. It is 73 books consisting of various literary genres. There is history, romance, poetry, inspiration, drama, and so much more. In every single page, we believe...
What if? Every movie, book, or play sees its genesis when someone somewhere utters those two words: what if? What if a mammoth shark terrorizes a beach community? What if a boy befriends a stranded extraterrestrial and works to help the being return home? What...
The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books teach us facts about Jesus’ life and share valuable lessons we can learn from the true stories of Christ's life here on earth. To really understand the faith,...
What happens when we enter into the desert of prayer? While some of us easily walk in the hope and solace of Christ in the sacrifices of the season, others of us wonder whether we’ve wandered from our Guide and question His ongoing Presence. The saints often...
Have you ever thought, "Wow, I want to have a great marriage...how does that happen?" The answer is simple - prayer. Here are three simple ways to implement prayer in your relationship and form a strong, intimate relationship with your spouse. Schedule It This may...
Advent is a wonderful time to examine your heart and your prayer life, and to make small changes that can set you on a new trajectory of hope in the year ahead. We invite you to watch Father's video, then prayerfully read the Gospel and reflection. We pray that this...
A great form of prayer is Lectio Divina, a powerful method that we explain here. This week, Fr. Piccolo reflects on Matthew 13:44-52. We hope that it serves you in your personal prayer and that it serves as a resource that you can share with your apostolate....
In today’s Gospel reflection, Father Ian VanHeusen presents a spiritual exercise based on Matthew 13:1-9. St. Ignatius of Loyola explains, “By the term “Spiritual Exercises” is meant every method of examination of conscience, of meditation, of contemplation, of vocal...
“Lectio Divina” means divine reading in Latin. It’s an ancient practice that teaches us how to read, meditate on and live the Word of God. History tells us that it was the Blessed Guigo the Carthusian, who wrote the “most important stages” of this way of meditating...
“I don’t have time to pray!,” some argue. “That is not true,” I tell them. They give me a thousand excuses and leave. Then time goes by and I observe them. Long hours spent watching TV and YouTube videos, checking Facebook, playing games, listening to music, pursuing...
One of the best ways to enrich your faith-life is to pray with scripture. A great way of doing this is using the "Lectio Divina"; this is a powerful method which we explain here. We hope that it serves you in your personal prayer and that it serves as a resource that...
Have you ever found yourself in a prayer rut? Perhaps you've been saying the same prayers for so long you no longer pay attention to the meaning behind the words. Your prayer routine has become just that, routine. Though it is good to be in the habit of...
One of the best ways to enrich your experience at Sunday Mass is to pray the gospel reading personally. A great way of doing this is using the “Lectio Divina”; this is a powerful method which we explain here. The following is the Sunday gospel reading with a...
Gospel of Matthew 5: 1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for...
Oftentimes our Wikipedia-mindset has taught us to read like robots. It's one thing to read a text looking to obtain information, it's another looking to undergo transformation. "Reading" the Bible isn't meant to merely offer certain ideas or reflections, it is meant...
I recently saw Into the Wild, a film that came out in 2007 that tells the true story of a young man who, after graduating from college, left his family and his bourgeois world in search of happiness, thinking that he could find it in a state of total isolation from...
Through intentional breathing, we are subtly able to affect both our heart rhythm and our interior life (see Heartmath Institute). Such gentle guidance of our interior life constitutes a form of asceticism whereby we can calm the disorders of the heart and create the...