Regnum Christi

“God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.” (2 Cor 9:8)

When this line showed up in the first reading on the morning of August 10, our entire community noticed it. Our Lord was reminding us that he is providing for us, in abundance, all the graces we need as we start this new step of our journey with him–as he always has.

During my first three days in Madrid, I have definitely seen this in action.

As I walked into the beautiful chapel in my new home at 9:00 am on August 11, after a full night of airline food, dozing off, and movies, I fell to my knees with a huge sense of relief. As I looked up at the tabernacle, the sight brought me to tears. He has been waiting for me here. The same Jesus who I have always known, the same Jesus to whom I have consecrated my life, the same Jesus who was in the chapel in Greenville and who came with me when I left, is here. He is the same, and he has never left my side.

In this, I always have all I need.

Global warming is a hot topic. Everyone is worried about it, or so you would think by watching the evening news.

If the earth gets a lot warmer, cities might flood, farmlands will lose their ability to grow food and we’ll probably have big bugs in Chicago like folks have in the Amazon.

If the earth gets a lot cooler, equally problematic things will happen. Either way we’re in big trouble.

So…people are calling for action: reduce carbon emissions, shut down coal mines, get power from windmills, live more simply, cultivate gardens and don earth shoes. Continue reading →

God gives Elijah some amazing bread in the desert that gives him strength to journey for 40 days. This is what the Eucharist does for us. Christ in the Gospel claims to be the Bread of Life. He is the Bread that will give us the strength to walk on the journey of faith to God. He is the one who comes out to encounter us so that we can make it. We need this bread, without it we are as good as dead as Elijah was in the desert. But there is only one way to accept it, in faith. Christ asks that we believe. Faith is the only way to receive Him. Only with faith can we accept God in our lives and as be make the effort to believe more we journey and walk towards God. God then feeds us with Himself to nourish that faith. Only a life illumined by faith is worth living. May we hear God’s invitation to come to Him and receive Him.

Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty

Everybody knows the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. She is about to be stoned and he suggests to the crowd that whoever is without sin throw the first stone.

The collected sinners lose their misplaced gumption and walk away. Then Jesus says he doesn’t condemn her – but sends her on her way with the admonition to stop sinning.

In other words, Jesus distinguishes between the sin and the sinner. And he gave an example for those of us trying to follow him. Continue reading →

…I will be picking up my three suitcases and boarding a plane to my new home.

In Madrid.

Now you have to understand, I’m pretty much as American as they come. And so far I’m not exactly an experienced international traveler; I’ve been out of the US of A once in my 22 years. So what’s someone like me doing trying to live and go to school in Spain?

Good question. I have it myself from time to time. Continue reading →

In the Old Testament, Moses prayed that they would receive food for their journey in the desert. We also are on a journey and pray often in the Our Father, to give us our daily bread. This bread is Christ. He is the Bread of Life. He nourishes us. This is why it is so important for us to be nourished with the Eucharist. The Eucharist is our food for the soul, but it is so much more. The Eucharist is an image for what our life should be. The Eucharist is Christ. He becomes our food. God humbles himself to offer himself continuously to the Father so that we can make it to be with Him. Christ stays there to remind us of all that He continues to do for us. We have to make our life into a living Eucharist by offering ourselves to God with Christ.

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.” (Anne Frank)

So many people complain that God is not doing enough to stop evil in the world, to bring more light into the darkness…but he created you and me! He is asking us to bring the light of his love into the darkness of the city streets, the office buildings, the ordinary “day to day” occurrences in which you live and move. Prayer and the Sacraments will make sure that your candle is always brightly lit…this is not merely a white knuckle effort!

The miracle Christ works today is for us. We are all part of the crowd that needs food. We all need nourishment, and are all starving for God. He is the only one who can answer all our needs. We are confronted with so much that claims that it can satisfy us and it does for a while but then it goes. Even at times, our experience of God can be like that. We are filled with good feelings and even He answers our prayers. Then all the sudden it can seem to go wrong. We don’t feel anything and prayers go forever without seeming to be heard.

God lets us experience hunger for Him. He wants us to desire Him. We can get distracted with his things, but what will really satisfy us is Him. Today he offers the people this bread and they want to crown Him king, but he flees into the mountains. He doesn’t want to be desired for what He gives, but rather for who He is as He loves each one of us.

Cecil the lion before his sad encounter with the dentist

I’m bothered that an American dentist went to Zimbabwe, shot a beloved lion with a bow and arrow, wounded him, tracked him for hours and finished him off with a gun.

Having said that, I’m outraged at several others things going on in the world, none of which can be blamed on dentists. (By the way, my dentist is a very nice lady who would never shoot a lion or intentionally cause pain to an animal or human.) Continue reading →

“This contemplation of creation allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us, since “for the believer, to contemplate creation is to hear a message, to listen to a paradoxical and silent voice”.57 ” ( 57 John Paul II, Catechesis (26 January 2000), 5:Insegnamen- ti 23/1 (2000), 123. ) — Pope Francis

I had the privilege of accompanying a group of fathers and sons to the Adirondacks for a few summers on a backpacking mission trip. One of my favorite times was my morning meditation near a pristine waterfall…God’s beauty, power and majesty spoke to me in a simple and clear way. Pope Francis wants everyone, everywhere to have access to this possibility…