Monthly Archives: May 2006

EXCERPT:
We love and desire God’s will in the concrete situation, this concrete task. A challenge of living as a good Christian in “the world” is to love God in the details of life, especially when those details little to our liking. We must love him in this beggar, this annoying creep, not in beggars or creeps in general. We must love him in this act of fasting, not in fasting in general. This basket of laundry, this paperwork, this ICEL translation…. Hmmm…, didn’t I say it was a challenge? God’s will must not be reduced to something abstract, as if it is merely a “heavenly” or “ideal” reality. “Thy will (voluntas) be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Read More →

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  5th Sunday of Easter ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2003 Dare we to hope?  The 2 May 2003 edition of the Catholic Herald published in the UK provides a story by Simon Caldwell … Read More →

EXCERPT:
There are some interesting things here. First, perfice as the imperative “perfect” has the force of “bring to completion”. It could be perceived as “perfect” in an instant of time, by a sudden and all embracing act, or it could be construed as being an ongoing process of perfection, of bringing to completion. In a way the Paschale Mystery itself (remember that mysterium and sacramentum are pretty much interchangeable in these contexts) reflects this same problem of our perception of time and God’s work in time, or outside of time, or beyond time. The Paschal Mystery is both completed and not completed. Our redemption is “already” completed, but “not yet” completed. As Christians we live in this pilgrim life, this earthly continuum, in a constant state of “already but not yet”. Read More →

EXCERPT:
Though Christ freely shed His Blood for all who have ever lived or ever will live, in the end not all will accept the benefits Christ won by His Sacrifice. Many will accept them, but not all… not all. Read More →