#saint wisdom

Homily 41 The time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.  And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his great mercy for her, and they rejoiced with her.  And it happened on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the boy, and they were going to name him after his father, Zechariah.  But his mother, responding, said, “By no means; he shall be called…

“Violence has to be restored” Archbishop Sheen’s Warning of a Crisis in Christendom

With a saintly long-ranging spiritual vision, Bishop Sheen saw the roots of today’s crisis firmly planted and growing in 1974, but gave us an antidote.

“First of all, we are at the end of Christendom,” Bishop Fulton Sheen solemnly said during a television show in 1974. “Now not Christianity, not the Church. Remember what I am saying.”

Then he defined what he meant. “Christendom is…

Joseph – A Man of Remembrance

As Mary and Joseph approach Bethlehem and the mountains which surround it, Joseph might have felt overwhelmed by all that lay before him. There is a certain part in our journey that is finite. “Once we go this way, we can never go back.” (more…)

Many men know the burden of provision. At the end of the day, many men know what it’s like to lie awake worrying about the souls in the other room, the finances needed to provide, and a myriad of other things. The hidden trap of worrying about provision is not as much the anxiety as it is the interior isolation. Many men retreat into their heads, isolating themselves by trying to figure out what…

Joseph – A Man of Order

Joseph knew WHO he was because he knew WHOSE he was.

What we know about Joseph, namely his marriage to Mary and his raising Jesus, are both given to him by God. However, God’s first words to Joseph through the angel remind him of his identity. “Joseph, SON of David, do not fear…” (Matthew 1:20) Joseph was a man who lived in the ORDER and FREEDOM of “relationship, identity, mission.” His identity…

Joseph Knows He’s Been Given a Gift of a Good Wife

In marriage, a man’s wife changes him.

He practices giving himself in love to her. He allows himself to be determined by her. He must attune himself to her, and she engages his heart and helps to develop his EROS into AGAPE love.

Most men must learn this. There is greatness inside of every man, but for many men, THIS MUST BE PULLEDOUT OF HIM. The love that a husband has for his wife pulls the…

Joseph – A Model of Purity

Paralambanō.

It’s the Greek word translated as “took” in the Gospels and it means “to enter into CLOSE relationship.” As in, “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he TOOK his wife” (Matthew 1:24). The less emphatic version of this word is used by another man of virtue later on in the Gospels, when Jesus gives his mother to the Beloved disciple John. “‘Woman,…