The Glory of Christ Crucified

The Cross of Christ brings His glorious grace into the focus of contemplation.  It is a difficult mystery to dwell on.  The heart sometimes finds itself weary and sometimes even too discouraged to fix its gaze on the agony of the Lord.  This is where frequent confession and humble examination of conscience can help the practice of mental prayer – which is a humbled gaze of the heart on the mercy of God. Oftentimes,... Read More

Pope Francis and the Pathway to Easter

Pope Francis was just elected and we look forward to his message to the Universal Church in the coming days.  He is a man of deep prayer and a man of profound concern for the poor.  At the beginning of Lent, he made an impassioned plea to the clergy and religious of Argentina, “The Kingdom of God may need our hearts torn by the desire for conversion and for the love, the breaking forth of grace and the effective gesture... Read More

Navigating the New Year

Lay people often overlook a source of deep spirituality and safety. One of the spiritual secrets of those in the religious life is a kind of spiritual guardrail system that helps them to know the path of peace on a moment to moment basis. This wisdom-born approach has aided thousands of ordinary people to become saints and to experience the heights of union with the Lord in this life. One part of this system is called a “rule... Read More

Am I experiencing intellectual gluttony? – Part III of III

Q: Dear Father John, There is just too much to read! I feel like I should be reading more about my faith and the spiritual life, because I want to grow more. But I am so frustrated, because even if I would spend all day reading, I feel like I would barely be scratching the surface. So I get tense, confused, and then I don’t do anything. What’s going on with me, and what I should I do about this? In our first... Read More

Am I experiencing intellectual gluttony? – Part II of III

Q: Dear Father John, There is just too much to read! I feel like I should be reading more about my faith and the spiritual life, because I want to grow more. But I am so frustrated, because even if I would spend all day reading, I feel like I would barely be scratching the surface. So I get tense, confused, and then I don’t do anything. What’s going on with me, and what I should I do about this? In our first... Read More

Am I experiencing intellectual gluttony? – Part I of III

Q: Dear Father John, There is just too much to read! I feel like I should be reading more about my faith and the spiritual life, because I want to grow more. But I am so frustrated, because even if I would spend all day reading, I feel like I would barely be scratching the surface. So I get tense, confused, and then I don’t do anything. What’s going on with me, and what I should I do about this? A: The good... Read More

Sexual thoughts – how can I understand them in light of my faith? Part II of II

Q: I am struggling with sexual thoughts and am wondering about the teachings of the Church. Are all sexual sins mortal and does thinking of sex without arousal a mortal sin? When does the thought become mortal; is it when we don’t control it or is it always mortal? What exactly is lust and what are the church’s teaching on it? Is it always mortal as well? In the first of the two-post series on this question we... Read More

Sexual thoughts – how can I understand them in light of my faith? Part I of II

Q: I am struggling with sexual thoughts and am wondering about the teachings of the Church. Are all sexual sins mortal and does thinking of sex without arousal a mortal sin? When does the thought become mortal; is it when we don’t control it or is it always mortal? What exactly is lust and what are the church’s teaching on it? Is it always mortal as well? A: Dear Friend, your questions are very direct, which is... Read More

Concupiscence – Navigating the Interior Life Spiritual Dictionary

CONCUPISCENCE: Insubordination of man’s desires to the dictates of reason, and the propensity of human nature to sin as a result of original sin. More commonly, it refers to the spontaneous movement of the sensitive appetites toward whatever the imagination portrays as pleasant and away from whatever it portrays as painful. However, concupiscence also includes the unruly desires of the will, such as pride, ambition,... Read More

The rule of three in the battle against sin

Q: Dear Dan, I am struggling with a recurring problem with anger that I can’t seem to overcome. I have read books, tried to understand how it surfaces in me, prayed fervently (I am living in a state of grace outside of this problem). But I seem to be making no progress. I am very very very very very very very very frustrated. A: Yours is a challenging question. Because of the complex issues involved with this issue... Read More

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