If the people witnessing the miracle of the loaves and fish in last week’s gospel reading were celebrating their first communion, this week’s gospel is a confirmation. In both the secular and the Christian meanings of the word “confirmation,” an affirmation takes place—the strengthening of a belief. The multiplication of the loaves and fish was […]

This Sunday’s gospel account of the loaves and fishes miracle (Jn 6:1-15) is familiar to many of us, so it offers a good opportunity to take a fresh perspective. When you read it at mass, pretend you’re walking into the middle of a big first communion party. In a way, that’s what it is. A […]

God’s incarnation as Christ was a miracle in many ways, but there’s one in particular we rarely think about. Through Christ God made Himself vulnerable to his own limitless empathy. After all those centuries of guiding his sheep via those earthly shepherds we call the prophets, God finally perfected all of their teachings by bringing […]

We’re born into this world with full-time jobs. From day 1 we are constantly remanufacturing the best version of ourselves. As Matthew Kelly wrote in his book, The Rhythm of Life, we’re part of a divine engineering process to fulfill our essential purpose. We are truly a work in progress. Continuous improvement is not only […]

We humans seem to be better at spotting evil in others than in ourselves. Evil isn’t always dramatic like stabbing or a robbing someone. In fact sometimes the most dangerous evil is banal, or boring, because we don’t even notice when we’re guilty of it. Telling a white lie or gossiping are examples. When it […]