Regnum Christi

What do you see Mary? What does the world look like through your eyes?

How do you see pain, suffering, and loneliness? How do you see struggle and difficulty?

How did your life change from the experience of holding baby Jesus in your arms for the first time? Of God being so close, so weak, so vulnerable, so trusting?

What was it like to lose the love of your life- to be separated from Him for 3 days in Jerusalem? To wait in hope and prayer, desperately searching for your twelve year old son?

What was it for you, to see him grow in age, grace, and wisdom? To perform the first miracle at that wedding at Cana? To multiply the loaves and fishes? To raise the dead? To heal the sick?

How did you life change from that experience of accompanying Christ to the cross? From standing there, beneath His pierced, side, collecting the treasures of the Kingdom?

Mother, your journey with Christ shaped your vision. Let my vision be transformed by seeing life through your eyes.

Have you ever experienced something that was so unique, so vivid, so moving that putting it into words only seems to diminish it?

That’s kind of how I feel as I struggle to put into words what the last three days have been like.

I’m currently sitting on the floor of the third story of Immaculate Conception Convent Hostel in Kingston Jamaica, having just finished the half way mark of a week long mission trip. And while I rarely have difficulty communicating what’s on my mind, right now I’m struggling to come up with words to describe what I’ve seen, what I’ve heard, what I have felt both with my senses and my heart. Continue reading →

Montecassino after it was bombed

There is a scene from the film “The Passion of the Christ” that often comes back to my memory during Holy Week: Mary, seeing Jesus crushed under the weight of the cross, hastens to comfort him, and he turns to her tenderly and says, “See, I make all things new.”

What is Christ making “new” during these sacred days of Holy Week?

Answer in the abbey

I found a fresh answer when recently visiting the historic abbey of Montecassino with my community. This is the abbey that St. Benedict of Nursia founded and where St. Thomas Aquinas was educated, a cradle and bulwark of Christian faith and civilization. What most impressed me about its history, however, was that it was almost completely demolished in a tragic bombing during World War II. After the war, monks and engineers restored the abbey according to the original plans, incorporating salvaged works of art and commissioning new, beautiful ones in place of those forever lost. Continue reading →

A short contemplation for your Holy Week. I want to share with you some statues of Jesus’ Passion and death that I have come across during my short time in Spain. Below are the images (and a song) with the reflections they have evoked. Have a blessed Holy Week and Easter!

“Are you the King of the Jews?”

“Do you say this on your own or have others told you about Me?” (Jn 18: 33.34)

            “Who do people say that I am? …Who do you say that I am?” (Lk 9:18,20)

Cristo de los Gitanos, Madrid

I am free, I am intelligent. So who is moving me? Me or the crowd? At the end, my life, my heart will be face to face with Him alone, and He will see me, the deepest motivations of my heart. I have the chance now to look at Him and answer for myself.  See how His hands are in the process of embracing the Cross with so much intentionality.

“Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. We have no king but Caesar!” (Jn 19:12)

“Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your King?” (Jn 19:15)

“Appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations… ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but have rejected me from being King over them.” (1 Sm 8: 5-7) Continue reading →

“Fr. Michael, I have tried to live my life with dignity, and I think that I have done a good job.  Now, I am going to try to die with dignity.  I have never done this before, so I am asking for your prayers as I begin this final journey.”  Moments later, I gave this gentleman, who was dying of cancer, the Sacraments of Anointing of the Sick, Confession and Holy Communion.  He smiled and in front of his whole family said, “I am ready to go, there is nothing more I need and I am at peace.”  He lived those final days with great dignity, making his children laugh with his clever sense of humor, and showing a level of graciousness and gratitude that brought everyone to tears.   Moments like these are special to every priest, as we are able to see the mercy of God and the effectiveness of his grace at work. Continue reading →

“See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the wilderness I make a way, in the wastelands, rivers” (Isaiah 43:19).

I am making all things new…

Do you not perceive it?

Where are you, God? I know by faith you’re here, you’re near…

Your presence is transforming.

I am making all things new…

All things? Is that a promise?

New wine in new wineskins

I am making all things new…

Here? Now? How can I see it without seeing? Hear it without hearing? Touch you without the ability to feel?

Do you not perceive it?

My ways are not your ways

In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.

I have loved you with an ever-lasting love. I have called you; you are mine.

7 Tips for a Strong Marriage

1. Christ needs to be “first” and at the center: Frequent Mass, regular Confession, and personal prayer are essential for gaining the necessary graces for a strong unity and charity in marriage.

2. Marital intimacy
– The wives need to see that this is way men connect and communicate with women…they need this validation.  It should not be used as a weapon (unless there is a really serious reason) or as a means of manipulation to obtain what you desire.  It does not always have to be romantic and a big production.
– Men need to understand that for most women, this is an act of charity towards their husbands and they find more validation in emotional and conversational connection and affirmation.  It is easier for a wife to meet his physical intimacy needs if her emotional needs are also being met. Continue reading →

My History of the Church class is, at times, quite amusing. Today it evoked a few smiles from the professor and students alike, especially from the international students. When you study ancient and medieval history of the Church (or regular old history, for that matter) in a country as young as the United States, the majority of the time is dedicated to events that happened in lands far, far, away. Sort of makes sense when, well, there wasn´t exactly an ancient or medieval period close to home. When you study it in Europe, however, it´s quite literally a different story. Continue reading →

What is it that happens when I contemplate Christ crucified?

Something in me- deep in my being, my soul- is activated. I no longer experience fear, worry, and passing things weighing me down. Somehow I am lifted above that because my heart is captivated.

Everything in me is magnetically attracted to Him- to that experience of Him crucified- that everything that before consumed me is somehow extracted from me and absorbed by Him.

He leaves me speechless- His love outpoured- then soaks me, washes me, and makes all things new.

Somehow, through this, all in me is ordered and finds its place before Him. Here I find the assurance of all grace and love.

He takes my breath away.

“Give us Lord a strong heart like that of the Virgin Mary, so that we can consecrate our lives to you, and thus we will see that everything becomes new in you, Lord. Gives us power to unite ourselves to Jesus so that our difficulties may become a ladder to climb up and reach you, the King of kings.”

My friend Brenda introduced me to praying the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Kibeho on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The quote above is from these meditations (from the prayer at the end of her First Sorrow).  Back around 2004, when I was feeling called to Regnum Christi, I kept hearing the same message; it was simple: that as a convert to Catholicism, Regnum Christi would be the “place” where I would grow closer to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I know that relationship has a ways to go; at the same time, growing ever closer to our Lady is to see –with the eyes of the heart –the Christian vision of real women’s liberation.  Continue reading →