Like so many other religious groups, Catholics are undergoing persecution. We are like the early Church following the resurrection of Jesus and the time of the apostles, when the Church found itself in a hostile world and its members doing their best to live out their baptismal call.
When our now-adult children were young, I found manners videos at the library, which we watched together and talked about how we would use them while we were on a special vacation that summer.
When we begin our marriages as Catholics, we always do so in a Catholic Church, under the guidance of a Catholic priest or deacon, who administer the sacrament of matrimony before the witnesses gathered there. We have also engaged in all the preparation required for a successful wedding day. But primarily, our focus must be on the union we are creating in the eyes of God.
Living a Christian life is not an easy task. Deciding to provide a witness for the image of a Christian requires that we intimately know the One we represent. To help us understand what is asked of us, let us turn to “Caritas in Veritate,” the encyclical letter by the late Pope Benedict XVI.
How is your Lent going? Have you remained committed to your intended fast and your added prayer? Have you continued giving alms to a group you support, by turning away from a luxury you typically enjoy and offering that money to someone in need?
Some people might read this column’s headline and think it is self-indulgent and not appropriate for the month of love. However, self-love must be present before we can love others. The greatest impediment to self-love is shame. The late John Bradshaw, counselor and motivational speaker, explains “the feeling of shame has a demonic potential to encompass our whole personality … a person can come to believe that his (or her) whole self is fundamentally flawed and defective.”
We have a new year upon us! If you are reading this, you have survived a turbulent time. We all experienced a, hopefully, once-in-a-century pandemic; an unprecedented election cycle that may still be unresolved; and an economy that has shaken us to our core. Our faith may feel as if it is the only constant we can lean on and find predictable. But do we have a strong faith life? This may be the year to invest yourself in becoming a stronger Catholic Christian.
Christmas is known for giving presents to one another, and yet what we fundamentally crave is the presence of others. The experience of feeling validated by others is foundational to a healthy, adult life.