Regnum Christi

Convocation of Catholic Leaders Day 2

Dr. Hosffman Ospino —
CNS photo/Bob Roller

St. Augustine’s praise of God himself can be sung of his bride, the Church as well.  The unchanging beauty, truth and goodness that she is is always becoming new through the incessant creative force of the Holy Spirit.  The bride of the Wounded Savior and host of the Sweet Guest of our souls is both strong and wounded, both unchanging and new.

The second day of the convocation began with Archbishop Wenski of Miami reminding us of the history of Catholicism in the United States, tracing the ways that missionary discipleship has shaped the country and the Church over the last 400 years. He told us that we are a part of this Catholic tradition of bringing the gospel to new American peripheries with joy and in innovative ways that respond to the needs of today. Continue reading →

Day 1: The Shepherds with their Sheep

During the early morning drive down to the Atlanta airport on Saturday I reflected on my destination.  The USCCB had invited dioceses and Movements from around the country to come together to encounter each other and align around the Mission of Sharing the Joy of the Gospel and living as Missionary disciples. I was going to join 3500 others in this convocation that centered around Evangelii Gaudium, and I collected my hopes for the unprecedented event while making my way through the city.  Continue reading →

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. – First Amendment

Our bishops are clear: If religious liberty is not respected, all people suffer and are deprived of the essential contribution to the common good, be it in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that the Church and other people of faith make every day, both here at home and overseas. (USCCB) Continue reading →

I’ve been trying to learn how to swim the butterfly stroke for years now. I’m still pathetic. I churn that water so much that the chlorine almost becomes butter. And what’s the effect? I might as well be on a treadmill. I barely move. A lot of violence, no progress.

Sometimes the way we view asceticism is like how I swim the butterfly—or some butterfly-like stroke that resembles a drowning man flapping in a last attempt to catch a breath. Asceticism is a means to reach God. Its purpose is not to do violence to ourselves, though that in some aspect or another is always a result, but not a goal. Continue reading →

It is Thursday afternoon as you hurry to renew your registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles (D.M.V.). You chose to handle this task at lunch to avoid extending work into happy hour. Nevertheless, you are rushing in hopes that divine intervention will gift you a shorter line today. It is not, of course, as the machine gives you ticket number 27.

After 15 minutes, you realize one person has been at the counter for too long. As you lean in for a closer look, you realize he is not a U.S. native, but a foreigner. And given the government counter attendant’s desperate eyes and posture, the language barrier is proving difficult. Meanwhile, the customer continues pointing at the same document and laboring to repeat a couple key English phrases. Continue reading →

I never associated tripping with the feast of Corpus Christi. But this concept unexpectedly was a leitmotif of my Corpus Christi this year.

It wasn’t that I tripped over my cassock or experienced any epic failure as an acolyte. I had the grace of being able to attend the Mass and Eucharistic procession in Bolsena, Italy, along with 50 fellow brothers. Bolsena is the site of the 1263 Eucharistic miracle that became the motivation for the official institution of the feast of Corpus Christi a year later. You could say this is THE Corpus Christi procession. The townspeople decorate the streets with mosaics made from flower pedals. The streets of that mountain town overlooking a calm lake come alive with the color and beauty of the flower, that delicate creature that speaks volumes of the tender love of the Father to his children, who have lovingly arranged them in anticipation of his passing through truly present in the Eucharist that evening. A very moving experience to process through this beauty in the company of Jesus. We all watched our step very carefully to not trip on those magnificent yet delicate mosaics.

But when the Bishop Benedict of Bolsena greeted us at the beginning of the Mass, I had to sheepishly pull out my Kindle dictionary to look up an Italian word he kept mentioning. Was he really saying “trip over the Eucharist”? Yes, he was.

He is a wise man. His point was we so easily pass over this silent, faithful, total love of our most humble God in this sacrament. We either ignore him or rush by as a mere duty of belonging to the Church. We fail to see the Gift! The bishop was inviting us to stop, to trip, to bow down in front of our Eucharistic Lord to appreciate just what this gift means. May we all learn to slow down, stop, and savor more this unfathomable gift we have, this Companion for the journey, Our Lord at our side.

What I’ve been up to – Camp Tekakwitha Girls Camp!

The other day I was celebrating mass at a local parish while outside it rained and thundered. The storm grew steadily in volume until at the consecration, as I held up the host, lightning struck the church and the power went out. We were plunged into complete darkness. Complete, that is, except for the altar, where the candles still glowed undimmed.

There were several gasps from the congregation, and it took my breath away.

After mass, the confession line was extra-long. An hour and a half later, I stood up, hoping confessions were over and I could slip out the back door. Then someone walked in. Continue reading →

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. — JN 3:16-18

 This is my favorite Gospel reading.  Short.  Clear.  Simple.

I’m a simple guy.  I believe most problems have an obvious answer.  We may not like the answer and it may not be easy, but right is right and wrong it wrong. Continue reading →

I don’t know much more than the basics of sailing. I’ve been sailing a couple times and enjoyed it, but I can’t say it is on my top ten favorite things to do. In today’s day and age, if you don’t like sailing, get a motor boat. Of course, this is not an ideal world where everyone gets his luxury boat of choice, but the point I want to bring out is that whereas in the past, sailing was the necessary means of transportation, today it isn’t. The ocean is the same ocean, but you don’t need to cross it the same way Columbus did.

I think this analogy can help us discern the signs of the time. Some things never change like the ocean. These are perennial principles. Other things, like our boat, can change with time. These are means. Continue reading →

Did you overindulge in cable news a bit during the election?  Devour Instagram insatiably during spring break?  Gobble up your Facebook feed so fast you didn’t really taste what you were consuming?  Understandable behavior for the season, but now you find yourself tired and carrying an extra 10 pounds of apps and notifications.  How do you get back in shape and overcome information indigestion?

Here are 5 ways.

1. Eat clean.

A lot of what we are sold as news and information is actually processed regurgitation of opinions.  Read the facts carefully.  Avoid the tempting but informationally deficient mutual admiration society of media pundits that just opines on the opinons of others.  The facts are processed and filled with additives.  You can’t even taste the substance through it sometimes. Continue reading →