The weapon of prayer We don’t think of prayer as a weapon. At least I don’t, especially when I mitigate its power by saying, “All I can do is pray.” Yet, I know this life is a battle, so I have written about spiritual warfare countless times. Why then don’t I use my primary weapon […]
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Sarah Leading Hagar to Abraham- Mathis Stom Forbidden fruit and its consequences This painting, Sarah Leading Abraham to Hagar by seventeenth century painter Matthias Stom hangs in the Gimaldegalerie in Berlin. Even a quick look at the figures portrayed by the artist conveys something unseemly, even odious. All too evident is the purpose of the
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Libido Domanandi and The Transfiguration of Christ Last Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, the liturgical churches advised us to accompany Jesus’s forty day desert fast and temptations. This Sunday’s seemingly abrupt switch to the Transfiguration of Jesus may be puzzling. But as I ponder the reason for the Transfiguration of Jesus on the second
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Rediscovering the greatest human strength: willpower In their book, Willpower: Redisovering the Greatest Human Strength, authors Roy Baumeister and John Tierney claim that success, however defined, materially, financially or psychologically, relates to self-control. They confess their original belief that the religious teachings about character, morality and will, were restrictive and punitive. But when their own
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The movie Bonhoeffer: pastor, spy assassin The passion of Christ strengthens him to overcome the sins of others by forgiving them. He becomes the bearer of other men’s burdens—“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal. 6.2). As Christ bears our burdens, so ought we to bear the burdens of
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The heart-brain coherence Our medicalized culture has trained us to think of our hearts as an IED. It’s only a matter of time until the coronary arteries occlude and cause the big bang. Instead of enjoying a steak, we force ourselves to prefer chicken and fish. Since the worldwide primary cause of death is a
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Purgatory, prayer and CS Lewis Before Father Joe, I’d never thought of the souls in Purgatory as my brothers and sisters. In fact I didn’t think of them at all. But then I attended a November week of Masses in Half Moon Bay, California. They were celebrated by a newly ordained priest at Our Lady
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Development versus Alteration: The crucial distinction Last Friday’s Office of Readings dealt with development versus alteration: the crucial distinction. Fifth-century monk, Saint Vincent of Lerins, writes enthusiastically of the development of doctrine. Is there to be no development of religion in the Church of Christ? Certainly, there is to be development and on the largest
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I wrote this article over two years ago. This looming election begs for reflection on our nation and its unarguably providential origins. And so biographer David McCoullough’s words warrant meditation. We should kneel down in gratitude! McCoullough’s comment, “We should kneel down in gratitude!” applies, of course, to more than the personage of George Washington.
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Recovering our lost integrity “What does God want?” “He wants his creation to recover its lost integrity.” Bishop Barron’s words from his homily for the first Sunday in September, Be Opened, explain everything. While God’s creatures search madly for answers to their despair and sense of meaninglessness, there is just one remedy. Only one method
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Lin Wilder has a doctorate in Public Health from the UT Houston with a background in cardiopulmonary physiology, medical ethics, and hospital administration
Book Author: LIN WILDER
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