Spirit & Life Blog
“Even when not motivated by a selfish refusal to be burdened with the life of someone who is suffering, euthanasia must be called a false mercy, and indeed a disturbing ‘perversion’ of mercy. True ‘compassion’ leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear. Moreover, the act of euthanasia…
Read More
Well, that was fast! The conclave, I mean. What a joy to see that white smoke this past Thursday, and a short while later to see the nervous, but smiling face of our new Holy Father emerge onto the center loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. The swiftness with which the cardinals came to the required…
Read More
The loss of a pope is always a moment of enormous significance for Catholics. In the brief period in between the death of one pope, and the election of his successor, there is a sense of an absence. We have lost our spiritual father. It is in these moments of mourning that we recall the…
Read More
“In a world where everything is on the same level, everything becomes sadly equal. A profane, I would even say a profaned, world is a joyless world. Basically, the loss of the sense of the sacred is reason for sadness. How enchanting it is for a young altar server to approach the altar for the…
Read More
Twenty years ago, a large crowd gathered outside a hospice in Florida where they held a 24-hour round-the-clock prayer vigil. Inside the hospice lay Terri Schiavo, a 41-year-old woman who some years before had suffered a severe heart attack, leaving her severely disabled. Among those present in the crowd, were Schiavo’s parents and her brother…
Read More
“On some positions, cowardice asks the question: Is it safe? Expediency asks the question: Is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: Is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular, but he must take…
Read More
“On some positions, cowardice asks the question: Is it safe? Expediency asks the question: Is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: Is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular, but he must take…
Read More
When Pope St. John Paul II released his extraordinary pro-life encyclical Evangelium vitae, he fittingly did so on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation. On this day, the Universal Church celebrates two great mysteries: The moment when the Godhead first took on human flesh, and became incarnate within the womb of Mary; and Mary’s…
Read More
I bind myself today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation. – St. Patrick’s Breastplate Today, the Catholic Church remembers and celebrates the life of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. This beloved saint of the Emerald…
Read More
The UK to Reject Gender Theory
“To redefine the definition of sex to include a person’s subjective, sexual behavioral predilection is so fundamentally flawed, it will undoubtedly lead to further confusion regarding the definitions of marriage and family, undermining the very foundation of civil society.” ― Dr. Steven White, Chair of CMA’s Health Policy Committee Although it sometimes seems difficult to…
Read More