While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat. (Mt. 13:25)

Things like that really happened in Christ’s time. People poisoned wells and sabotaged fields. They sowed weeds in their enemy’s wheat.

Ancient Rome’s Decline

What else did people do at the time of Christ? They contracepted, they aborted babies, they divorced, engaged in unnatural sexual activity, practiced infanticide, and trafficked children. The Church Father Tertullian, who died in 220 A.D., gave a detailed description of surgical tools used in abortions.

This way of life decimated the population in Rome, and caused a very concerned Caesar Augustus (already twice-divorced) to pass a law in 18 B.C. making adultery a crime. In 9 A.D., Caesar made a law which promoted and rewarded marriage and children, at the same time blaming low birth rates on abortion, homosexual activity, and on men who preferred a licentious single life to the responsibilities of marriage.

Listen to Caesar Augustus in the Roman Forum:

O, what shall I call you? Men? But you are not performing any of the offices of men. Citizens? But for all that you are doing, the city is perishing. Romans? But you are undertaking to blot out this name altogether…you are bent on annihilating our entire race and…upon destroying and bringing to an end the entire Roman nation…you are committing murder in not begetting in the first place those who ought to be your descendants…Moreover, you are destroying the State by disobeying its laws and you are betraying your country by rendering her barren and childless…For it is human beings that constitute a city…not houses or porticos or market-places empty of [people].

(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 56.1.5)

They misguidedly blame Christianity for the collapse of the Roman Empire. Caesar Augustus, who died in 14 A.D. before ever hearing the word “Christian,” would have disagreed. He saw his empire collapsing due to men who failed to take up responsibility, a result of confused and unnatural sexual activity which caused marriage and children to be seen as roadblocks to happiness and fulfillment.

Christ made marriage between a man and a woman a sacrament, a sacred bond. He did so in part so that people would care for and protect what the pagans found to be inconvenient roadblocks, the small, weak, least of our brethren. Do you see why Christ was hung on a cross? Do you see why the early Church was full of martyrs? Christianity was (and is) a threat to the false happiness and fulfillment the world sells.

Preaching Modern Contraception

Margaret Sanger, the founder of what became known as Planned Parenthood, spoke a lot about threats to happiness and fulfillment. In 1923, in a journal called The Thinker, Sanger wrote:

Birth Control does not mean contraception indiscriminately practiced. It means the release and cultivation of the better elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction, of defective stocks—those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.

In 1915, Margaet Sanger’s husband, William Sanger, like his wife, a member of the socialist party and an anarchist, was arrested for spreading his wife’s contraception propaganda. He blamed his arrest on “sexophobia.” The judge in his trial told him:

Your crime is not only a violation of the laws of man, but of the law of God as well in your scheme to prevent motherhood…If some persons would go around and urge Christian women to bear children, instead of wasting their time on woman suffrage, this city and society would be better off.  

Too many people today, lulled to sleep by our enemy, hear that judge’s words and automatically charge him with “sexophobia.” Meanwhile, we have a present-day judge on the U.S. Supreme Court who cannot answer what a “woman” is because, as she put it, “I am not a biologist.” This is how far we have sunk, living in a culture that violates the laws of both man and God.

Saturday, July 25th, is the 58^th anniversary of Humanae Vitae (“On Human Life”), a letter published in 1968 in Rome by Pope Paul VI. The letter became controversial, though in substance it was much like what Augustus Caesar said in Rome in 9 A.D., when Christ would have been a small child. It was controversial because it was a threat to people’s “happiness and fulfillment.”

Controversial or not, it really isn’t that complicated. The statistics don’t lie. The unleashing of widespread contraception did not enhance or save marriage. It destroyed it. Promiscuity and adultery skyrocketed with widespread contraception. Human nature being what it is, how could it not have skyrocketed? Do you understand then why the Church always held contraception to be intrinsically evil and gravely sinful?

Divorce skyrocketed with contraception, too. Broken families skyrocketed. Pornography and deviant sexual behavior became mainstream. Now, ask yourselves: Are people happier and more fulfilled now than before? What do you think? If you were out to abolish marriage and the family (see The Communist Manifesto) what would be a better strategy than duping Christian societies into contracepting?

Do you see my point? I’m not a prude. I’m not a buzzkill for those seeking authentic pleasure. Christians are not Puritans or haters of the human race. No, what I want you to understand is this: An enemy has done this. Haters of the Cross of Christ, out to annihilate Christianity and Christian culture, did this to us.

I wonder what William Sanger ended up thinking. He and his wife Margaret divorced in 1921. She had all but abandoned him and their small children to travel the world selling contraception and practicing the “free love” contraception provided her. Perhaps her husband later regretted cheerleading for her unnatural, free-wheeling lifestyle. Maybe he would have found more happiness if she had stayed home and grown flowers in the backyard with him and the children, as opposed to her running off to exterminate the world’s “weeds,” those defective stocks which somehow threatened her happiness and fulfillment.

Recognize the Poisonous Weeds

Farmers are aware of a weed known as darnel, also known as false wheat. It looks very much like wheat until the ear appears. At harvest time, whereas wheat turns golden brown, darnel turns black. Darnel can be poisonous and can kill people.  

Understand the parable, my friends. During our short time on earth, there will be weeds in our wheat. God allows the weeds for His own wise purposes. He uses the injustice of the wicked as a way to perfect His people. But understand: The weed does not destroy the wheat. It just makes the wheat fight for its life (Kevin O’Sullivan, Sunday Readings).  

The enemy has convinced our below-fertility-rate society that the weeds are people who need exterminated, the “defective stock” who Caesar stated in 9 A.D. were murdered for not having the chance to be born, people who were murdered so that the “finest flowers could bloom” at the murdered people’s expense.  

Those of us, who by the grace of God can still think rationally, who know what a man and a woman are, understand that the weeds in the wheat are not “defective stocks” of human beings. In our modern-day disaster, the weed sowed by the enemy was contraception. This was the false wheat. On the surface, it appeared exciting and liberating, but at harvest time it turned black and poisonous.

My friends, keep fighting for your life, and keep fighting for your soul. The enemy wants them both. Take comfort while you are fighting, knowing that the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t just have opinions and feelings; she has the truth, given to her by Truth Himself.

If you are contracepting, quit. If you’ve contracepted in the past, and have let that go unrepented, then go to confession and have your blackened soul set free. Wisdom states, “and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins” (Wis. 12:19).

Repent, my friends. God permits it. Then you will live and die in hope. And at the end of all things, when you meet up with the Sower of the seed, He will say: O, what shall I call you? Men? Indeed. For you performed the offices of men. Citizens? Yes. For it is human beings that constitute a city. Come with me then, and be citizens of heaven.

Photo by Stephen Radford on Unsplash

A Visitor from Heaven, Part IV: Apparitions in Northern Italy

In Part III, I sketched the troubled life of the Italian visionary Francesca Sgobbi, noting her remarkable humility and briefly tracing her journey through Poland.

THE DEVIL’S ASSAULT

Amid encounters with personal evil, Francesca repeatedly experienced physical pain and health problems, including fractured pelvic bones and hands. In this case, apart from material losses, she emerged unharmed.

Some time ago, Francesca was driving at about 60 km/h when, on a curve, “suddenly some black entity completely covered my windshield,” the visionary recalls. “It occurred near the town of Cervignano. To this day, the marks where my car struck a roadside linden tree are still visible. Then the vehicle overturned; as a result, it was a complete write-off.”

The next day, a note appeared in the local press stating that “something inexplicable must have happened there, as the driver had no right to survive.” Neither the police officers nor the ambulance doctor could understand how the driver was neither wounded nor injured.

The mystic vividly remembers that, as it was happening, as if in slow motion, she saw the figure of Fr. Jerzy first shield her from the impact and then support her as she emerged from the overturned car lying in a roadside ditch. As if that were not enough, she also heard his voice reminding her to take her documents and money from the car.

MARKS ON THE BACK

She was not laughing at all, even if the story may sound almost comic: the demon scratched her back quite painfully. It took place on the eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2010. That morning, Francesca and her husband were at the Marian Shrine on the island of Barbana near Grado. As is usually the case in such places, the visionary went to confession and then took part in Holy Mass. As soon as she fell asleep in her bedroom, “that nasty beast threw me from the bed onto the floor.”

In the morning, she woke up with such severe back pain that she could not lie down, nor could she make a sound, which was very strange; it was as if she were paralyzed. The wounds looked terrifying and so unusual that her husband asked a friend to take a photo of them. Because the wounds did not heal at all, the couple went to see a doctor. “As soon as he saw my back, he wanted to call the police immediately and accuse my husband of beating me,” Francesca recounts.

Here is part of the doctor’s description: “she has distinct marks on the skin of her torso and the base of her thighs, of the red dermographism type, and scratches on her shoulders, [without apparent explanation]. Their regularity makes it look as if she had been scratched with a wire mesh with spikes.”

A MYSTERIOUS FAST

The phenomenon known among mystics as inedia, as in the case of St. Catherine of Siena, does not occur in Francesca. Still, during a multi-day visit from guests from Poland, she was not seen to eat a thing, and despite the heat, she did not so much as bring a drop of water to her lips. Throughout it all, she sat firmly at the table, showing neither fatigue nor the slightest weariness.

Giorgio later revealed that, since the time of the apparitions, his wife has had periods in her life when she does not eat at all. Once, it even lasted forty days, throughout the whole of Lent. She drank only a little water.

A CALL TO NIGHT PRAYER

(Read Luke 6:12)

The mystic from Fiumicello was often encouraged to pray at night. Nocturnal hours of adoration have changed many lives, bringing healing and a deep intimacy with Jesus. This prayer is called a “pearl of great price.” At times, both body and spirit rebel, and getting out of bed takes a great act of will. Sometimes, we must begin with small steps, starting with 10 or 15 minutes at home, preferably between 3 and 4 a.m.

And on this subject, what did Fr. Jerzy say?

Francesca, I will tell you what Mary says: “I, your Mother, am with you and your spouse. I am with everyone, even when you do not realize it. You know, Francesca, how precious those brief moments are at night when someone keeps vigil with us out of love, making reparation for many sins. Night prayer has great power because of the sacrifice it requires. All the saints practiced it, and through it they obtained significant help for their brothers and sisters.

Night prayer, Francesca, is especially suited to counteracting the evil spreading throughout the world. We do not ask for many hours of prayer; a few minutes are enough. When you wake in the night, remember us; as a devoted daughter, turn to the Father, the Son, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Do this out of love and thanksgiving, for if you live, if you rise and walk, it is only by the grace of the Father…”

A FRIAR’S OPINION

Particularly compelling is the assessment of Francesca Sgobbi offered by the Polish religious priest and researcher of private revelations, Andrzej Baran, CAP. In his view, her theological outlook is Christocentric, with a strong Marian emphasis. He notes her awareness that she is a sinner in need of a Savior, her sense of human fragility and weakness, her recognition of her own passivity in the face of the visions she receives, and the way in which these experiences are leading her to become a more conscious member of the Church.

The priest also identifies six elements that, in his judgment, may support the authenticity of these experiences:

1. The satanic torments she has undergone on many occasions;
2. The so-called rule of dignity, according to which visions take place in an atmosphere of prayer, secondary and trivial matters do not overshadow what is essential, and Francesca’s behaviour corresponds to the gravity and dignity of supernatural action;
3. The content of the messages, which is consistent with Revelation and the teaching of the Church, as well as the fact that Fr. Jerzy always appears in a cassock, while the psalm is recited in Latin, as the blessed one learned it in the seminary;
4. An attitude of simplicity in both the visionary and the appearing person, marked by simplicity, cordiality, peace, and gravity;
5. The rule of permanence, since the vision is not a one-time or accidental event and takes into account the current situation of the Church and its members;
6. And, finally, the passivity of the subject, meaning that the visionary is aware of what is happening to her, that it is not the result of her own effort, and that she remains open and receptive.

CONCLUSION

As Pope Paul VI once warned, Satan’s greatest victory is that people have stopped believing in his existence. In a television interview, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris, was asked whether he believed in the devil. He replied, “Yes, I do.” When the journalist, astonished that he could still hold such a belief in an age of immense scientific and technical progress, pressed him again, the cardinal answered, “Yes, I still do.” Asked where the devil is, he said, “At Dachau, at Auschwitz, at Birkenau!” The journalist fell silent. For Lustiger, a Jew whose mother died in Auschwitz, the answer was unmistakable.

The authors of this nonfiction work, Dr. Milena Kindziuk and Rev. Prof. Józef Naumowicz, note that these apparitions have not been officially recognized by the Catholic Church and are still ongoing. This publication does not imply theological or doctrinal approval. In the case of private revelations, the Church proceeds with caution, yet it does not forbid the faithful from drawing spiritual fruit from them.

Authors’ Note: This article was based on the book Niezwykłe Objawienia Ks. Jerzego Popiełuszki we Włoszech, Milena Kindziuk, Ks. Józef Naumowicz, published by Wydawnictwo Esprit (Kraków, 2025).

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of this series on A Visitor From Heaven: Apparitions in Northern Italy here.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Throughout my adult life, I have spent a fair amount of time praying and meditating about being—or, more accurately, becoming—a good man, a good husband, and a good father. In recent years, by a great gift of Providence, I have become more devoted to the model of St. Joseph proposed by my Catholic faith. Yet, from the biblical text, the only description of Jesus’ earthly father we receive is that he was “a just man” who was “unwilling to put [Mary, his betrothed] to shame” (Mt. 1:18-19). (NOTE: “just” is also rightly translated as “righteous,” in both the Old and New Testaments.) With such a noble description, but with a dearth of words, I have pondered the standard by which Joseph was judged and described as a righteous man. How was St. Matthew, or anyone in first-century Judea, Galilee, or Palestine to know that Joseph should be described that way?

Psalm 112 is the best standard I have found, because it offers specific qualities to be measured in the search for right and fruitful relationship with the Lord. Pondering the psalmist’s words, I may legitimately assume that Joseph earned his description by exhibiting the qualities listed there. More importantly, I may assess and judge myself in any of my masculine roles by the qualities and habits expressed there.

ILLUMINATION THROUGH THE LAW

Psalm 112 opens, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments” (Ps. 112:1 ESV). Immediately, this description of the blessed man calls my mind to the final verse of the Psalm 111 (“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…”). Perhaps even more saliently, I recall the very first Psalm: “Blessed is the man…[whose] delight is the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2).

I cannot help but recall what the psalmist means by writing “the commandments” and “the law of the Lord.” I am reminded of Deuteronomy 4-6, which provides the clearest example of what “law” meant to Israel. That section delineates how they were to meditate on the Law, the specifics of the Decalogue, and how they were to apply it to their lives through generations. As an aspiring righteous man, I can take all this together and glean that entering into right relationship with God requires humility, filial piety, pondering God’s revelation and commands, and then acting likewise.

Because God speaks through His law, I receive light by meditating on it—studying and pondering it. That is why the psalmist writes, “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright” (v. 4). Illumination happens—the darkness that plagues my life is pushed back—because I entrust myself to God in a filial relationship when He invites me. That causes me to change my ways. And, thus, the darkness diminishes, and the light grows even more.

Being able to see better in the light with the eyes of my heart, I am strengthened for God-like action, that is, exercising habits that build up others. The righteous man, I learn, is “gracious” and “merciful” (v. 4); he “deals generously and lends”; he “conducts his affairs with justice” (v. 5); and “He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor” (v. 9). These are among the best social qualities I can possibly list, and no reasonable person of good will would argue otherwise. Indeed, as I help others encounter the Lord through works of justice and mercy, I am able to relate to Him more fully, too. Thus, the snowball-effect of righteousness gathers momentum.

WEALTH & RICHES

The Psalm also offers an opportunity to ponder the ways good works are rewarded. “Wealth and riches are in his house,” I read (v. 3). Economic blessings and rewards are certainly possible for a righteous man, but I know this is meant to be considered on a higher plane.

Reflecting on this verse, St. Augustine ruminates, “For [the righteous man’s] house is his heart; where, with the praise of God, he lives in greater riches with the hope of eternal life, than with men flattering, in palaces of marble, with splendidly adorned ceilings, with the fear of everlasting death.” With this comment, I am also reminded of Our Lord’s admonition to refrain from storing up earthly treasures, instead focusing on the treasures of the Kingdom (see Mt. 6:19-21). Thus, with the greater light I have received from the Lord, I am able to see a much wider range and depth of “wealth and riches.”

VIRTUE: THE UNSHAKEABLE FOUNDATION

Everything previous has already been immensely beneficial, but the primary message is still to come. In verses six through eight, the psalmist points to the foundation that allows all the other qualities to find their full flowering.

For the righteous will never be moved…
He is not afraid of bad news, his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

Again, in his commentary, St. Augustine prayed with his readers: “Let our heart therefore be established, and shrink not, until we see beyond our enemies. […] we trust to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.” It should be clear to me that meditating on God’s law, knowing and living His commandments, results in virtue. Virtue, as the tradition tells us, is the firm, steady, and unshakable foundation that results from my understanding that God is more powerful than any situation or adversary, and that I can trust Him for my flourishing.

LEGACY & ETERNAL LIFE

The final idea I take away from Psalm 112 deals with legacy. The righteous man “endures forever,” the text tells me (v. 3); he “will be remembered forever” (v. 6); “his horn is exalted in honor” (v. 9). Righteousness will even be rewarded in future generations, as I read, “His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed” (v. 2). Pondering these passages helps me know that living in right relationship with God ripples outward to others, especially my children. The lessons in righteousness I speak and show to them will be—by God’s grace—the same lessons they provide to their children.

Still, it is not just my legacy in this world that I consider. The psalmist’s comment about enduring forever causes me to give attention to the question—the reality—of eternal life. I begin to ask about the end for which I was created, and I consider my desire to live beyond this world in eternal blessedness. That is the greatest legacy any of us can imagine.

All this leads me to conclude that anyone described as “just” or “righteous” must know and live the dispositions and habits described here. From the few details I can glean of St. Joseph’s life—those recorded briefly in Gospel accounts by St. Matthew and St. Luke—I can conclude that he knew Psalm 112, meditated on it, and enacted its prescriptions. Finally, because I desire to be a righteous man like St. Joseph in all my roles, I should take the same opportunity, frequently.

Photo by Saint John’s Seminary on Unsplash

In my previous article, I shared a few of the insights that Archbishop Fulton Sheen taught me as I have grown older. Lessons about finding a new mission after retirement, remembering that we are made for eternity, and discovering the peace that comes from counting blessings instead of birthdays.

As I reflected further, I realized there were several other insights from Sheen that have shaped my outlook on growing older and, more importantly, growing holier. Here are three more lessons from a man who never stopped preparing souls—not simply for retirement, but for eternity.

What Are Your Plans for Eternity?

Years ago, I started to ponder the reality of the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. I was thinking that I had spent plenty of time planning things like education, careers, investments, vacations, and retirement. But how often had I thought about making plans for my eternity?

St. Thérèse said her mission was love. She famously promised: “I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.” Fulton Sheen had a similar spirit. He once remarked in his autobiography, Treasures in Clay: “I sometimes feel that when I come to the good Lord in Heaven, I will take a few days’ rest and then ask Him to allow me to come back again to this earth to do some more work.”

That is not the language of a man waiting to die. That is the language of a man already in love with eternity and knowing that he will continue to work for God in His vineyard from heaven.

Fulton Sheen and the saints challenge us with the question: What are your plans for eternity? Ask yourself: What mission still lies ahead for you? and What kind of work would you like to do when in heaven?

For me, it would be nice to become the patron saint of plumbers, joining St. Vincent Ferrer. Or being given the title of the patron saint of radio announcers, joining St. Maximilian Kolbe. 

Both Fulton Sheen and St. Therese, by their example, teach us that we were made to work in this life and to continue working in the next. We were made by God for God, so it only seems right that we would stay busy doing His work for eternity.

Spoiler Alert! Heaven Is Made for Those Who Want Heaven

Within my circle of friends, some think that everyone goes to heaven these days (except Hitler), others think that only a few make it there, and still others believe there is no heaven at all. Fulton Sheen set me straight a few years ago on this topic of heaven when I read his book Victory Over Vice. 

The good archbishop writes:

Heaven is a city on a hill. Hence, we cannot coast into it; we have to climb. Those who are too lazy to mount can miss its capture, as well as those who refuse to seek it. Let no one think he can be totally indifferent to God in this life and suddenly develop a capacity for Him at the moment of death.

Where will the capacity for heaven come from if we have neglected it on earth? A man cannot suddenly walk into a lecture room on higher mathematics and be thrilled by its equations if, throughout his life, he neglected to develop a taste for mathematics. A heaven of poets would be a hell to those who never learned to love poetry. And a heaven of divine truth, righteousness, and justice would be a hell to those who never studiously cultivated those virtues here below. Heaven is only for those who work for heaven.

If we crush every inspiration of the divine; if we drown every Godward inspiration of the soul; if we choke every inlet to Christ—where will be our relish for God on the last day? The very things we neglected will then be the very cause of our ruin. The very things that should have ministered to our growth will then turn against us and minister to our decay.

Heaven and hell are, in like manner, both effects of divine goodness. Their difference comes from our reaction to that goodness, and to that extent are also our creations. Both God and man are, in different senses, creators of heaven and hell.

These are sobering thoughts indeed to ponder!

A Happy Death

Perhaps the greatest lesson Fulton Sheen taught me about growing older is this: A happy death is not an accident. It is a masterpiece.

May I leave you with these last words of encouragement from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, found in the book, The Cries of Jesus from the Cross. In it, Sheen writes:

That brings up the supreme problem of a happy death. A happy death is a masterpiece. Our Lord labored on His masterpiece from eternity, for He is the “Lamb slain from the beginning of the world” (Rev. 13:8). We must labor on ours from the beginning too, for as the tree falls, there it lies.

At the moment of death, nothing will be useful to us—except God. If we have Him, then we shall recover everything in Him. For that reason, a Christian is never in full possession of his life until the day of his death. That is why the Church calls it a Natalitia—birthday, the birthday into eternal life. Eternal exile is only for those who made the earth their fatherland.

No masterpiece was ever completed in a day. It takes years for the artist to discipline his mind and hand, and then years again to chisel away the stubbornness of the marble to make the form appear. The greatest masterpiece of all—a happy death—must be prepared for by practice.

We learn how to die by dying, dying to our selfishness, our pride, our envy, our sloth, a thousand times a day. This is what Our Lord meant when He said: “If any man will come after me, let him…take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). We cannot die well unless we practice dying.

Then, when the time comes for the last stroke, we shall be skilled in it, and we shall not be taken by surprise. Our tower will have been completed; whether it be high or low, it will matter not. It only matters that we finish the plan Our Lord has given us to do. And may we all, as an old Irish saying has it: “Be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows we’re dead.”

Author’s Note: Elements of this article draw upon Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s reflections found in The Cries of Jesus from the Cross, a spiritual classic that has profoundly influenced my own understanding of suffering, aging, and the hope of eternal life. First published in 2018 by Sophia Institute Press and now in its 12th printing, the book continues to offer readers a deeply moving meditation on Christ’s final words from Calvary and what they mean for our lives today.

Editor’s Note: This article is a part of a CE original series, “Cultivating the Soul of a Disciple with Blessed Fulton Sheen,” in celebration of and preparation for Archbishop Sheen’s beatification this September.

Photo by Damian Markutt on Unsplash

Who or what is in control of my choices in life?

This is the crucial question that St. Paul invites each of us to answer in his letter to the Romans 8:9, 11-13. He reminds us of our new status in Christ, writing, “Brothers and sisters, you are no longer in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit.” But are we being controlled by our fleshly desires and our tendencies toward self-protection, promotion, and gratification? Or are we being led by the Spirit that makes us children of God?

The answer to this question will determine our spiritual life, “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.” Our choices have consequences for our spiritual life. This is why the most important thing in this life is to discern God’s will in every moment and follow it using the graces that God offers to us.

For us to be spiritually healthy, we must fulfill the will of God in all things out of love for Him, no matter the cost or the consequences of our choices. We belong to Christ, who gave us His Spirit, for “Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” This Spirit moves us to do what is pleasing to Him, as long as we cooperate with Him.

Let us reflect on the prayer of Jesus in Matthew 11:25-30. Jesus rejoices in the Father’s eternal will to reveal Himself to those who are favorably disposed. Jesus exclaims, “Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.” Jesus also fulfills His Father’s will to reveal Himself to all creation: “No one knows the Father, except the Son and anyone to whom He wishes to reveal Him.” He devotes His entire life to doing His Father’s will, revealing Him to all humanity. Even in His intense anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus still chose to carry out the Father’s will, praying, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Mt. 26:42).

Jesus offers us two things in the passage—His yoke and rest: “I will give you rest…Take my yoke upon you.” Taking up Jesus’ yoke is to reveal the Father’s love by doing His will. That is why He came into this world, suffered, died, and rose from the dead in His human body. Obviously, the rest that Jesus offers us is not an absence of labor, difficulty, pain, or suffering, but rather the inner peace that comes from uniting ourselves to Him and doing the will of His Father. Nothing will give us this rest until we find and fulfill God’s will in our lives.

How then can we discern whether a particular good choice is God’s will for us at that moment?

1. Increased Gratitude

Firstly, the will of God deepens our relationship with Him and expands our gratitude. Listen to Jesus’ gratitude to the Father and His will: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.” It is as if Jesus cannot contain the great joy and happiness from grasping the Father’s will.

We experience gratitude to God when we do His will, even if it is difficult, challenging, and demanding. Our gratitude prevails in the face of all adversities because it is rooted in relationship with our loving God and Father. We are certain that He wills the best for us all the time, as Jesus teaches, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?” (Mt. 7:11).

2. Decreased Self-Reliance

Secondly, the will of God will draw us towards Jesus, who says, “Come, follow me.” The will of God draws us out of ourselves towards Christ and towards others through Christ. We learn to trust in Jesus and in others—not on ourselves or our resources. Following the will of God does not leave us self-indulgent, self-centered, or self-reliant.

A good sign that we are doing our own will is that we sense a separation from God, who always desires to be near to us. We might also find it difficult to connect with others in a deep and healthy way. We might feel estranged from God, bored with His presence, and more self-centered and preoccupied. Prayer becomes difficult and feels fruitless. We begin to trust more in ourselves and less in God.

3. More Christlike

Thirdly, the will of God teaches us to be like Christ, who says, “Learn from me.” The more that we do the will of God, the more that we share in the experiences of Jesus and the more closely we imitate Him. The will of God becomes a school of interior formation in the very dispositions that we find in Jesus. Jesus promised us an intimate knowledge of Himself when we do the will of His Father, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Mt. 12:50).

This is why we will face suffering, trials, rejections, abandonment, temptations, and even visible failures when we seek to do the will of God. We are sharing in all that Christ experiences and are called to act as He did by the grace that He gives us when we do His will. We are not abandoned by God in those moments—we are being schooled to know Jesus more deeply. We can’t know Jesus deeply if we are bent on doing our own will. We may know Him intellectually through books or homilies, but we lack a heartfelt and personal relationship with Him when we ignore His will for us.

4. Lasting Peace

Lastly, the will of God leaves us with inner peace and abiding calm. As Jesus promises, “You will find rest for yourselves.” Notice that He does not promise us a rest from our environment, experiences, or condition. He offers us inner peace, even in the midst of chaos, because we are ready to let go of our wills and embrace the heavenly Father’s.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, many of us make choices based on the flesh alone. We choose only what is pleasant, comfortable, familiar, easy, and pleasurable. We dare not choose anything contrary to the prevailing cultural trends. We dread anything that would go against our personal taste, preference, and wellbeing. We live by the flesh because we are clueless about what Christ has done for us, how He set us free from the dominion of the flesh. As St. Paul writes, “We are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh” (Rom. 8:12). All these acts of succumbing to the flesh only lead to spiritual death and restless lives.

Jesus Christ has not only delivered us from the bondage to the flesh. Through Him, the Father also offers us all the graces that we need to seek, find, and fulfill His holy will in each moment of our lives. We have all things in Him, as Jesus confirms, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father” (Mt. 11:27).

There are two action points we can take to live by the Spirit and fulfill the will of God in all things.

Let us bring to Jesus in prayer the many ways in which we are moved to live by the flesh. We can notice these desires and attitudes without giving in to them. We can beg Jesus for the desire and resolve to fulfill His will at all cost. We can ask Him to open us to receive the power of His Spirit and make choices that show that we belong to Him and are resolved to please Him in everything.

Lastly, let us unite ourselves more completely to Jesus in the Eucharist, where He offers us His precious body, blood, soul and divinity. Jesus fulfilled the will of the Father in His human body. United to His Eucharistic body, we too are united to His will and receive the graces He offers to help us carry it out. This is the only way that we can overcome our weak flesh, follow the Spirit of love, and make choices in accordance with God’s holy will. And these are the only choices that leave us with a blessed life, true happiness, and lasting inner peace.

Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!

Image from WikiArt

All the marriage books and articles in the world could fill entire libraries with endless volumes. With happy and healthy marriages becoming increasingly rare, it can be difficult to know where to look to learn how to build a solid marriage.

Fortunately, the most popular book on earth happens to be about a marriage. The main character is a husband who loves His wife dearly. In fact, He’s the greatest husband to ever live, a perfect role model to imitate.

Scripture treats God’s covenant with His people as a kind of marriage. The entire Bible presents a story of a Bridegroom pursuing His bride. From the moment after the Fall, God pursues His beloved people. When Israel turns to idolatry, it is equated with adultery (Hos. 2:2, Ezek. 16:32). The New Testament then portrays Christ as the heavenly bridegroom (Mt. 9:15), and His Church as His bride, culminating in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).

We can look at how Christ acts to understand how a husband should treat his wife, and the Church’s faithful response to Christ to understand how wives should love their husbands.

Love

Our Lord’s love for us is persistent. He reaches out to us first and continues to be open to us when we deny Him and abandon Him. He is always willing to restore our broken relationship and will forgive us an unlimited number of times. St. Paul instructs husbands to “love your wives as Christ loved the Church” (Eph. 5:25). This is why St. John Chrysostom tells husbands to continue loving their wives regardless of whether that love is returned. That could mean anything from forgiving his wife for repeated mistakes to continuing to pray for her soul if she is unfaithful.

Likewise, the Church is required to be faithful and devoted to Christ, her bridegroom. She is asked to be faithful to Him even when the circumstances are difficult. She is to defend Him and always be open to His love.

Humility

Christ humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8). Our Lord’s intense humility is something that deserves repeated meditation. In John 13, Jesus sets an example by washing the feet of His disciples. This was scandalous, and indeed Peter was scandalized, since a master washing the feet of his disciples would be considered humiliating. And yet Jesus did it anyway, while still affirming Himself as Lord (Jn. 13:13).

A husband ought to imitate Christ by refusing to act as if any act of love is beneath him. He should never think, “that’s not my job.” Whether this means washing a pile of dishes or changing a few diapers, he should never see this as something he is above doing.

Likewise, we see Peter scandalized and refusing to allow Christ to wash his feet, only to be rebuked. “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me” (Jn. 13:8). Humility is not only lowering yourself to serve others, but being open to receiving love and sacrifice from others. Additionally, Christ tells the apostles to wash one another’s feet (Jn. 13:14), reminding us to spread that humble love to others around us as well.

Forgiveness

How often does God forgive us when we sin against Him? How frequently does He tolerate habitual venial sins that we may fail to repent for? How many times does He welcome us back into communion after committing yet another mortal sin?

The Bridegroom continues to forgive the bride when she genuinely repents. He never grows weary of extending forgiveness whenever He sees a contrite heart.

This is perhaps one of the hardest teachings to practice, but Our Lord insists on it. He says that we must forgive our brother continuously (Mt. 18:21-22). This means husbands and wives must show continual forgiveness to one another, even when it is difficult, and to open our hearts to an honest apology. Our Lord knows what it is like to have an imperfect spouse.

Sacrifice

The cross was an act of sacrifice by the Bridegroom for His bride (Eph. 5:25). It was not just any sacrifice, but the single ultimate sacrifice. Homilies on marriage frequently advise spouses to look to the cross.

Marriage has its fun, romantic, and exciting moments. But it also has its weary, frustrating, and depressing moments. In these latter cases, spouses are to look to the cross. Husbands are tasked explicitly by St. Paul to love their wives as Christ loved the Church (Eph. 5:25), and the bride of Christ has a sea of martyrs who gave their lives rather than deny Christ. We are called to give our entire lives completely to our spouse, without reservation.

This is what marriage means, and why Pope St. Paul VI affirmed that in marriage, “love ceases to be a purely voluntary affection and becomes a binding duty.” Christ’s love for us never wavers, even when our commitment to Him falters.

While so many influencers are offering alternative frameworks and guidelines for getting the most out of a marriage (or rejecting it entirely in favor of temporary relationships), scripture tells us the story of the perfect marriage. Anyone who has never been given a solid example of a wonderful marriage can always look to the Holy Scriptures as the perfect manual for marriage.

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

As with all ancient saints, St. Margaret of Antioch’s story is a blend of tradition, truth, legend, and mystery. While she was highly venerated in the Middle Ages and is still regularly invoked for intercession, her visibility in the Church Triumphant has waned over the years. While it is a shame when any saint’s memory is lost to the sands of time, Margaret’s being so is particularly regrettable considering her story and the courage that young people, especially young women, can take from it. In a world filled with people looking for heroes, Margaret ought to stand out and shine brighter than any pop star, athlete, or actor. Her story and witness to Christ are accessible, relatable, and transcendent. Let’s get to know this wonderful saint.

St. Margaret of Antioch

St. Margaret was born in the third century in Antioch, in modern Turkey. She was a pious, reverent Christian even though her father, Theodosius, was a prominent pagan priest. She had converted to Christianity when she was quite young, following the model of her nurse and caregiver, who took over the role of Margaret’s mother after her biological mother died. She refused to bend the knee to her father or her father’s paganism. She refused to offer worship to Emperor Diocletian or sacrifice to Roman gods. She endured unspeakable tortures at the hands of a sadistic Roman official, named Olybrius, who lusted after her and was denied at every turn by the young Margaret who had made a vow of perpetual virginity.

The most dramatic event in Margaret’s life came when, according to legend, she was swallowed whole by Satan, who had appeared to her in the form of a dragon. When the partially digested Margaret made the Sign of the Cross in the dragon’s belly, he burst open, leaving Margaret unharmed. Eventually, Margaret would be executed by beheading after repeatedly refusing to renounce her Christianity. Her feast day is celebrated yearly on July 20^th by the Roman Catholic Church.

During the Middle Ages, St. Margaret was part of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. These saints were invoked by the faithful during times of overwhelming distress, in particular, the Black Plague. Today, there might not be bubonic plague to contend with here in the West, but there are other dangers, or dragons, if you will, lurking around corners waiting to devour the pious. While devotion to Margaret has fallen in popularity, she and her 13 companions are still very much alive and willing to come to our aid to slay the dragons in our lives through their intercession and the Sign of the Cross.

Facing Dragons

The modern world has not outgrown dragons. It has simply renamed them. Dragons exist everywhere in our society in the forms of pornography, depression stemming from social media usage, drug addiction, vanity, nihilism, hook-up culture, and spiritual ambivalence, to name a few. While these issues may not stack up to the Black Plague in the imagination of the secular world, they most certainly continue to haunt the dreams of the believer.

Perhaps the best course of action is not to look past the devotions of our Catholic forebears, but to embrace them. As modern people tend to do, we see those who existed in previous generations as intellectually unrefined and therefore unworthy of emulation. However, while we may have advanced technologically and academically, it can be argued that we have regressed spiritually. Believing that there is nothing to learn from those who came before us, beyond warnings of what we should avoid, is to sell our predecessors short and to deny ourselves the opportunity to learn timeless truths about faith and devotion. We simply cannot afford to do that, as the spiritual battles we wage today are the same ones that the Christians who first turned to Margaret for her intercession fought generations before we were born.

Pursuing Purity

Purity is an interesting term today. On one hand, it is sought after by everyone when it comes to different endeavors and applications in their lives, and how thoroughly they accomplish what is set in front of them. On the other hand, the term is castigated as oppressive when used in moral and religious senses. That particular form of purity is seen as restrictive when it comes to what someone can do or should do.

While Margaret’s vow of perpetual virginity is laudable, it is not a requirement for purity. Nor is her willingness to endure unspeakable physical pain at the hands of lust-fueled torturers. What makes Margaret’s purity stand out as so important for young men and women today is her defiance in the face of corruption. Margaret’s purity was not fragile. It was durable. Her purity and witness to Christ did not allow the world, or as it was in her case, the dragon, to swallow her without a fight. When Satan himself believed he had snuffed out Margaret’s light, she turned to the Cross and was delivered instantly from his grasp. Who better to turn to, then, when the world seems to be overwhelming and relentless in its desire to swallow us up than St. Margaret?

St. Margaret of Antioch reminds us that holiness is not weakness, passivity, acquiescence to pressure, or retreat from the world. It is the courage to remain uncorrupted when the world insists that corruption is normal. When corruption is demanded of us, we are called to be Margaret, whether we are men or women. The dragons that threaten modern people may look different than the one described in Margaret’s legend, but they are no less real in their desire to consume what is good and pure within us. In an age searching desperately for authentic heroes, Margaret stands as a witness that faith in Christ is still possible and sorely needed, even when surrounded by pressure, temptation, and fear.

Choosing Our Saintly Patrons

The Church does not lack saints capable of speaking to the modern world. Rather, we have forgotten how to listen to them. Regardless of how many generations have come and gone since Margaret bore her witness to Christ and earned her sainthood, she stands the test of time in her quiet purity and unwavering love of Our Lord. Perhaps it is time to rediscover St. Margaret and, with her, remember that no dragon is stronger than the Cross.

St. Margaret of Antioch, pray for us!

Photo by Thamara Maura on Unsplash

As the Carmelites celebrate St. Elijah shortly after the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, his figure emerges not merely as a biblical memory but as a prophetic presence for our own troubled age. Elijah’s name—El Javeh, “The Lord is God”—is itself a confession of faith, spoken against every form of idolatry ancient and modern. His life unfolds as a dramatic confrontation between the living God and false substitutes that promise fertility, power, or security but ultimately leave the land barren.

Elijah stands alone against Queen Jezebel, the Phoenician wife of King Ahab (874–853 B.C.), whose political marriage symbolizes a deeper spiritual corruption: religious syncretism. Jezebel cannot accept the God of Israel as the one, true, and transcendent Lord—the God who revealed Himself to Moses as “I am who am” (Ex. 3:14). She insists instead on importing her gods and compelling Israel to honor them. The result is not coexistence but domination: altars erected to Baal, prophets silenced, and covenantal fidelity treated as expendable.

This story is uncannily familiar. Modern societies, too, are tempted to blend incompatible visions of truth, worshiping at the same time the language of faith and the idols of power, autonomy, and self-creation. Like Jezebel, such syncretism does not tolerate resistance. Elijah’s prophetic voice, therefore, is not an artifact of the past; it is a warning for the present.

The turning point comes with the murder of Naboth, whose vineyard Jezebel covets. This act reveals the true cost of idolatry: when God is displaced, the innocent are sacrificed. It is at this moment that Elijah’s mission intensifies. He speaks not as a political reformer but as a witness who stands before the face of the living God, as he declares, “The Lord is alive, before whose face I always stay” (1 Kgs. 18:15). This echoes what St. Irenaeus famously stated:

The glory of God is the living man, and the living man is the vision of God.

This single verse has long been recognized as foundational for the contemplative life. Elijah’s authority does not arise from strategy or numbers, but from presence—from living coram Deo. Alone, hunted, and apparently powerless, Elijah is nonetheless sustained because God draws near to him.

Forced into hiding by the brook Cherith, Elijah receives food not from human calculation but from God Himself. Medieval tradition would later associate Cherith with caritas, underscoring a profound truth: the contemplative life is not escape, but radical dependence. While Baal claims to be the god of fertility, it is the Lord who feeds His servant in the desert. In an age obsessed with productivity and control, Elijah reminds us that life flows from receptivity, not mastery.

Yet contemplation does not shield Elijah from suffering. After his victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, persecution only intensifies. He flees into Phoenician territory, where he encounters a destitute widow and her dying son. There, the prophet becomes a bearer of life. The widow’s last meal is multiplied; her son is restored. As St. Gregory Nazianzen observed, “The mother who mourned for her son becomes a mother again without the pain of childbearing.”

Here again the biblical narrative speaks directly to our time. God sends His prophet—and later His Son—not to the powerful, but to the poor, the vulnerable, those who still know how to trust. In a world marked by material abundance yet spiritual famine, the widow of Zarephath stands for all who dare to offer what little they have in hope of God’s promise.

The journey culminates on Mount Carmel, where Elijah encounters God not in wind, earthquake, or fire, but in the “still small voice” (1 Kgs. 19). Carmel rises like a garden between Israel and Phoenicia, a place of quiet fruitfulness contrasting sharply with the clamor of idolatry. Here Elijah learns—and teaches us—that God is not seized through noise or spectacle, but received in silence. Authentic prophecy flows from contemplation.

Jesus Himself would later echo this paradox when He spoke of the “violence” required to enter the Kingdom: not the violence of domination, but the inner struggle to relinquish false gods and remain faithful to the covenant.

In this light, Elijah appears as the spiritual father of all contemplatives—and indeed as the archetype of monastic life. His solitude is not isolation but availability; his silence is not emptiness but attentiveness. He stands as a corrective to a Church and a world tempted to replace contemplation with activism and fidelity with accommodation.

We turn, finally, to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who embodies what Elijah prefigures. She receives the Word in silence and gives Him to a thirsty world. Through her intercession, may many voices arise today in the spirit of Elijah—voices that call us back from idols to the living God, from noise to silence, from self-reliance to trust, and from syncretism to truth.

May the Lord, who fed His prophet in the desert, nourish His Church anew with contemplative fidelity and prophetic courage.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

As we have seen throughout this series, love that is not objective but is based on feelings, oftentimes irrational and lost in passion, is called Eros by the Greeks. This ascending love, per Pope Benedict’s terminology, still contains a spiritual component, one that has led many thinkers, both pagan and Christian, to believe that there is a mystical nature to love.

There have been many Christian mystics who have experienced this union with God through love that Pope Benedict describes. The mystical nature of love was experienced by St. Paul during and after his confrontation with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Likewise, St. Augustine had a mystical experience in a garden that resulted in his immediate conversion to Christianity. Their experiences of God’s love exude from their individual writings, Paul’s Letters and Augustine’s Confessions. In this essay, we focus on Medieval mystics: Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Jean Gerson.

Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich was a fourteenth-century hermit without a religious order. She lived in a cell in St. Julian’s Church in England, where she practiced a life of intense prayer and privation. When the plague hit the city, Julian suffered a deathly illness. During her slow recovery, she experienced God’s love and eventually wrote of her Revelations of Divine Love on the experience.

In one of her mystical visions, she saw a small round item that could fit in the palm of her hand, like a nut, represent Creation, “all that is made.” God told her that “it lasteth, and ever shall [last] for that God loveth it. And so All-thing hath the Being by the love of God.” This vision also revealed that when earthly things distracts us from God, we cannot rest. Only when nothing distracts us, because of the love of God, will we rest. Humans are part of this symbolic nut that fits in the hand, all of which—all creatures, all things, all humans—are embraced by God in love. God clothes us, “claspeth us,” as the bones are clothed in skin and the heart in the surrounding flesh, in the tenderness of heavenly love.

God “made man for love,” and Love redeemed humans of their “foul black deeds.” “All-thing” abides by Providence, and Julian, recognizing this in her revelations, blissfully sensed God proclaim:

See! I am God: see! I am in all thing: see! I do all thing: see! I lift never mine hands off my works, nor ever shall, without end: see! I lead all thing to the end I ordained it to from without beginning, by the same Might, Wisdom and Love whereby I made it. How should anything be amiss?

In another vision, one that lasted seven nights, Julian witnessed Christ in the full torture of His sufferings and excruciating death. She saw Christ’s offering of love for humankind. She wrote, “the sweet body was so discoloured, so dry, so shrunken, so deathly, so piteous, as if He had been seven night dead, continually dying. And methought the dying of Christ’s flesh was the most pain, and the last, of His Passion.”

Meister Eckhart

Johannes Eckhart lived several generations before Julian of Norwich. He had been well educated under Albertus Magnus and had been granted a Master’s degree from the University of Paris. His writings focused on God and Love—both ascending love, eros, and descending love, agape.

He understood love as an unquenchable thirst, never satisfied, always in continual longing. Eckhart’s consuming love for God made him realize that this thirst exhibits a need to extend outward, a need for completion, based on an intuitive recognition that something within himself is incomplete. A person seeking love “never thinks of resting because he is never tired,” wrote Eckhart. Such is the thirst that Love creates, an unending yearning and therefore an untiring pursuit.

Eckhart argued (per Pope Benedict) that love of human springs from love of God. “Love’s nature,” Eckhart wrote, “is such that it appears only where two are; but itself burns out to be one and uniform and never twofold; for love cannot exist divided. In love’s nature, two function as one, and there is ardor, willing, and longing.” Love is not selfish, and love is fulfilling. It is not selfless; instead, by sharing and empathizing, one is both giving and receiving satisfaction. Love is a process of giving to another who one sees as oneself through empathy.

Eckhart understood, like Julian of Norwich, that “God loves for his own sake, acts for his own sake: that means that he loves for the sake of love and acts for the sake of action.” Humans are made for God’s love. God loves completely and is never angry, even when humans sin.

Johannes Tauler

A generation before Julian experienced her revelations, a Dominican mystic, Johannes Tauler, had heard Meister Eckhart preach and became associated with his focus on the love of God. Tauler, like Eckhart, treaded on the edge of Church teachings. Tauler conceived of the close association between a human and God. If a human can purify their soul, the human might approach the dwelling place of God. Humans are born from the uncreated and seek to return to the uncreated. Tauler argued that in this life a human can attain the uncreated (God) and form a complete union with Love itself.

Jean Gerson

Tauler influenced the fifteenth-century mystic Jean Gerson, the chancellor University of Paris, who believed that love for God drives a person beyond systematic or speculative theology to a unity with God. He disagreed with the Tauler, however, in the latter’s belief in the possibility of a perfect oneness with God, a fusion where no distinction exists. Gerson did not think a mystical union with God achieved complete oneness. He believed, rather, in the possibility of a mystical, rapturous union with God, one in which the human does not lose self, but rather experiences an extension of the soul via love, a transcendental moment, and a knowledge of God.

Mystics have been a source of inspiration in Catholic theology in part because of their focus on the connection of the love of man with Love itself. Pope Benedict writes in Deus Caritas Est, “man can indeed enter into union with God—his primordial aspiration. But this union is no mere fusion, a sinking in the nameless ocean of the Divine; it is a unity which creates love, a unity in which both God and man remain themselves and yet become fully one.”

Pope Benedict’s definition of the mystical union of man with God recognizes the mystical nature of love while avoiding the heretical lengths to which such mysticism can go. Mysticism can, in focusing on the connection with God in a timeless moment of intense and transformative love, ignore the historical basis of Christianity and its institutional role in mediating the relationship between humans and God. For mystics like Eckhart, the highest authority can appear to be not the Church but the self. Protestants, for example, saw Eckhart, Tauler, and Gerson as precursors to Martin Luther.

A mystic might think that the union of self with God is the central authority in Christianity, rather than Tradition and Scripture. But, as both Paul and Augustine discovered, the isolated transformative moment of conversion might not sustain a lifetime of trials and temptations. Because of this, the convert must return, time and again, to the centeredness of the Church.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a CE original series on the History of Love, pursuing the meaning of love and our understanding of it throughout time.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

In the midst of Ordinary Time, immediately following the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Precious Blood of Our Lord is offered as July’s special devotion and adoration focus. Reminding us of the price Jesus paid for our sin, we realize how much He loves us and how valuable each of our souls are.

Confirming this value, this July’s Papal Prayer Intention is for respect for human life:

Let us pray for the respect and protection of human life in all its stages, recognizing it as a gift from God.

By joining these prayers of devotion to the Precious Blood and for respect for the gift of human life, we enter the Paschal Mystery in a way appropriate to Ordinary Time which sees the whole of Salvation History as present here and now for the salvation of each soul.

As early as the first century, Pope St. Clement urged the faithful to devotion to the Precious Blood:

Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.

By fixing our gaze, we cannot help but feel the weight of Jesus’ sacrifice and desire to respond to each human life we encounter with reverence and hope. In a time when many are not very hopeful about the human condition or the state of the world, we who fix our gazes can see and respond differently, trusting that such a gift as the Precious Blood will not be for naught, despite much evidence to the contrary.

In his Sunday Angelus on July 5, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to this connection between the Precious Blood and the dignity of human life:

…it is written in Genesis that the blood of Abel, killed by his brother Caine, cries to God from the earth (cf. 4:10). And, unfortunately, today as in the past, this cry never ceases, as human blood continues to be shed because of violence, injustice and hatred. When will human beings learn that life is sacred and belongs to God alone? When will they understand that we are all brothers and sisters? To the cry which rises from so many parts of the earth for the blood that is spilled, God responds with the Blood of his Son, who gave his life for us. Christ did not respond to evil with evil but with goodness, with his infinite love.The Blood of Christ is the pledge of God’s faithful love for humanity. Every human being, even in conditions of extreme moral wretchedness can say, fixing his eyes on the wounds of the Crucified One: “God has not abandoned me, he loves me, he has given his life for me”, and thus rediscover hope.

The cry of human blood never ceases, and yet God never ceases to respond with the Blood of His Son. Jesus responds to our failure to protect human life in all its stages by giving His own life and Blood for us. Our hope lies secure, both for ourselves and for humanity, in this supreme gift. Our lives can be lived with great love for all human life when we fix our gaze on Jesus’ Precious Blood.

His royal blood draws distant rivals near,
And unifies them, quenching thirst severe.
His blood flows over walls of separation,
Securing by torrential inundation
The earth’s and heaven’s reconciliation.

(excerpted from “The Precious Blood” by Margaret Coats)

The Culture of Life clashes with the Culture of Death in every which way. There can be no reconciliation between ideologies that promote opposite ends. But Jesus, by His Precious Blood, can overcome this chasm drawing distant rivals near.

…he entered once for all into the sanctuary…with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption...the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. (Heb. 9:12,14)

We obediently stemmed the tide of human sin with the blood of animals until Jesus came and made our insufficient offerings unnecessary. We could not, and cannot, save ourselves from our sin so the Father sent the Son to shed His Precious Blood to cover those sins and reconcile us to Him and open the gates to heaven. What could possibly offer more cause for devotion and adoration?

Foreshadowing Jesus’ words to St. Faustina by seven centuries, St. Catherine of Siena called the Precious Blood an “Ocean of Divine Mercy.” What an apt metaphor for a devotion we attend to in summer when many of us have the opportunity to be near large bodies of water and pray. Whether it as brief an invocation as, “Precious Blood of Jesus, save us and the whole world!” or a formal and approved litany, spending devotional time in July pondering the Precious Blood of Our Lord is offered by the Church for ailing humanity’s greatest needs: restoration of our human dignity lost to sin and the consequent loss of dignity of the human person in society as a whole.

When the Church offers us feasts, seasons, and designated times for special prayers, there are graces that flow from her authority which we would be wise to avail ourselves of. Let us consider doing so this month of July, making the most of the fullness of the Salvation Story inherent in Ordinary Time.

Jesus, you shed your Blood for us for the forgiveness of our sins and the healing of our world. Please help us to grow in love for you through devotion to your Precious Blood, especially as the Church prescribes for the month of July. May your Blood cover the entire world for the healing and restoration of the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death, and at every sacred moment in between.

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The recent talk of a Catholic revival has stirred real hope, but hope needs discernment if it’s going to serve the Church well.

Last Easter, many priests, parish leaders, and Catholic commentators saw encouraging signs in fuller pews, more converts, and a renewed openness to the Faith. The New York Times, referencing data from two dozen dioceses, reported significant increases in the number of people entering the Church nationwide. Those signs should be received with gratitude—but a person can be drawn toward the Church without yet being rooted in its sacramental, communal, everyday life.

Recent national data sharpens that point. Pew Research Center reported in late 2025 that religious life in the United States had largely stabilized, but it also found no clear evidence of a broad revival among young adults. Catholic leaders need to resist telling a story of decline that misses signs of grace or treating every visible return as proof that deeper conversion has taken root.

In conversations I’ve had with bishops, chancery leaders, pastors, and parish teams across the country through my work at Ministry Brands, I hear both excitement and caution. Many sense that something is shifting spiritually, particularly among younger adults. Still, curiosity about the Church and lasting participation in parish life are not the same thing. The space between interest and belonging may be one of the most pressing pastoral questions priests and parish communities face right now.

Look For Belonging Beyond Attendance

Fuller churches on Easter, stronger OCIA classes, and noticeable increases in giving can all suggest momentum. Yet those signs should be treated as beginnings, not conclusions. Many younger Catholics are not indifferent to faith. They may be receptive to Catholic teaching, drawn to reverent worship, or willing to return at key moments in the liturgical year. Yet spiritual openness does not always move at the same pace as belonging.

The better pastoral question is not only whether people are coming, but whether they are becoming known. Are new parishioners being invited into formation, service, and ordinary relationships? Are converts connected to parish life after the Easter season? Are young adults finding people who can answer questions, pray with them, and help them discern their next faithful step?

Authentic renewal becomes visible when occasional presence becomes consistent participation. A family that returns after Easter, a young adult who stays for formation, or a convert who begins to volunteer at the parish tells leaders more than a single, crowded Easter Mass.

Treat Giving as a Clue, Not a Conclusion

Recent parish-level patterns point to a more complicated reality. In recent research from Parable Group, 55% of surveyed parishes reported that giving either increased or stayed about the same in 2025. Parishes that reported increased weekly attendance were 7.8 times as likely to report increased giving and 8.4 times as likely to report more new donors.

These numbers are encouraging, but they point to something more ordinary and more demanding. People tend to respond when they feel welcomed, informed, and invited into parish life. Giving can become one pastoral clue among many, revealing whether people see themselves as part of the parish rather than occasional visitors to it.

Parish leaders should read generosity in that spirit. The purpose is to ask what generosity may be revealing about trust, belonging, and consistent participation.

Communicate Before People Drift Away

A parish can show encouraging signs of growth yet remain spiritually fragile. Easter crowds can grow while year-round parish life remains thin. New parishioners may appear at weekly Mass and still feel under supported between Sundays.

Clear and steady communication matters. Parishes that communicated openly and directly about giving were more than six times as likely to report increased giving, and those that addressed it at least monthly were three times as likely to report stronger results.

The same principle reaches beyond stewardship. Sacramental preparation, volunteer invitations, follow-up after feast days, and ordinary parish updates all shape whether a person remains on the margins or begins to belong. A parish that speaks only when something is needed may find that the faithful begin to relate to parish life in similarly occasional ways. Clear, consistent communication can help people see a steadier path into worship, formation, service and community.

Notice the Hunger for Reverence and Tradition

Many young Catholics are not simply looking for a more polished parish experience. In many cases, they are searching for a deeper encounter with the historic life of the Church.

Across many dioceses, younger Catholics are showing renewed interest in Eucharistic devotion, traditional liturgy, frequent confession, and Catholic tradition. Parish and diocesan leaders should pay careful attention to that desire. Whether one prefers a particular liturgical expression or not, the deeper signal matters. Many newly catechized Catholics are yearning for substance, mystery, and continuity with something larger than themselves.

That desire should be supported thoughtfully, especially for people still early in their journey. Parish leaders do not need to overwhelm newcomers with every aspect of Catholic life at once, but they do need to offer more than activity. People drawn toward the Church need reverent worship, frequently available adoration, Confession, Mass, serious catechesis, and a parish community that helps them live their faith every day.

Remove Friction Without Mistaking Convenience for Faith

Accessibility matters. Recent parish research showed that parishes offering QR-code giving were 1.7 times more likely to report growth in new donors, while parishes offering digital wallet giving were 2.6 times more likely to report increased generosity among adults ages 18 to 29.

Technology does not create spiritual commitment or carry sacramental weight. It can, however, reduce unnecessary friction for people who are still learning how to enter parish life. Clear communication, accessible tools, and thoughtful follow-up can help someone register, give, volunteer, or take a first step toward deeper participation.

The mistake would be confusing the doorway for the destination. Digital tools may help people connect and stay informed, but they cannot substitute for the worship, formation, and community that make parish life worth entering.

Make Accompaniment the Measure of Revival

The deeper question for priests, bishops, parish staffs, and lay leaders is not whether people are interested. Many clearly are. The harder question is whether parishes are prepared to receive that interest and patiently deepen it.

A revival worthy of the name will not always look dramatic. It may look like a soul returning to confession, a family staying after Easter, a young adult finding a place in parish life, or a convert discovering that the Church is not only beautiful but livable. Those signs are harder to notice but worthy of rejoicing over. The work before parish leaders is to meet new openness with parish life strong enough to sustain it. When a parish offers steady accompaniment, reverent worship, serious discipleship, authentic community, clear teaching, and real paths into communion, fragile beginnings bear roots and produce lasting fruit.

Photo by Diocese of Spokane on Unsplash