Sometimes we can be held back from the spiritual renewal offered through Lent by a primal emotion that keeps faith from flourishing fear Fear is a crucial response in human life to protect us from physical emotional and even spiritual threats but misplaced spiritual fear can keep us from living

In the temptation scene in Matthew the dark heart of the reality of sin is exposed when Satan offers Jesus ldquo all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor rdquo with only one simple condition ldquo if you will fall down and worship me rdquo Every act of sin we commit participates in t

My parents spoke German at home when they did not want the children to know what was being discussed which was often the children themselves It is a method parents use with varying success depending upon how well they have passed on the mother tongue I was not very old when I heard my parents d

In the movies a persecuted protagonist can exact revenge on the evil antagonist and the theater audience cheers Movie heroes and heroines have limitless scope to exact vengeance on the villains because ldquo they have it coming rdquo Moral considerations melt away in the shared reverie of perso

Christians in general and Catholics in particular sometimes have an uneasy relationship with the notion of law This uneasiness can be traced back to Jesus rsquo own confrontations with Jewish authorities regarding his interpretation of the law of Moses and later to the Apostle Paul rsquo s antith

In the midst of a recent arctic freeze in Minnesota I sent out a tweet ldquo Best part of a polarvortex is ability to be in a warm house and to cozy up and enjoy time with the family Pray for those who are not warm rdquo Someone known on Twitter as RiskyLiberal read my tweet and found it l