MyFaithJourney

Last Friday evening, Caroline and I watched Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. It was the first time I'd watched it since it was first released 20+ years ago. Watching it was uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. At the cinematic depiction of Jesus's death on the cross, I found myself sobbing, weeping. I love Jesus Christ, and I am unworthy of His death and suffering. He did it anyway. He is an awesome God. My study of the Gospel of St. Matthew has taken place in three phases. First, I read the entirety of the Gospel in my Ascension Press Great Adventure Note Taking Bible. I tried to do a chapter a day, and I miss a couple, so it took right at 30 or so days. I chose Matthew as my starting point, primarily because it comes first in order published. No other reason than that. After I had finished, making occasional notes in the space provided, and making some text highlighted, I started reading anew, this time in the St. Ignatius Study Bible. This study Bible is a masterp...

St. Matthew Gospel Study, Part 3, Chapters 17-25 The Transfiguration, Jesus with Moses and Elijah  This blog post is the third in a series of posts about my study of The Gospel of St. Matthew, after whom I am a namesake. My goal is to finish with a fourth post before Easter, hopefully by Holy Thursday, which isn't but a week and a day away. I feel truly blessed that I was inspired to embark on this study. While there are many important and significant things that I've learned in my study of Chapters 17-25, in large measure the study has been more reassuring to me than anything else. Reassuring how, you might ask? It has been reassuring in that it again and again reaffirms the faith I was formed with as a child is the faith I treasure today. Whether as a grade school kid and altar boy at the St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Staten Island, or at Monsignor Farrell High School, none of my study contradicts anything I previously knew or believed. I would say though, to any cradl...

I'm not due a blog post for a few days, but following on my recent post, "On Death and Dying," I want to recount an experience. Sometimes I've heard uncanny coincidences that pertain to spirituality as. "That's a God thing." More recently, and new to me, "That's on God wings." Is that what happened here? Caroline and I attended the funeral of a dear friend, of the Jewish faith, in Phoenix last week. As part of her graveside ceremony, Psalm 23 was read. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul, He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anoints my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall fo...

Caroline and I flew to Phoenix last week to attend the funeral of a dear, dear friend, someone of tremendous importance to Caroline. They were friends for over 35 years. Her death was premature and beyond tragic. For my beautiful wife, it's been devastating. For her husband, I don't know that there are words. Monday, we'll drive up to Largo, about a hundred miles and two hours from here, to attend another funeral. This is the funeral of one of my dad's dear friends, someone of great importance to me. Just shy of 98 years old, he lived a long and good life, and was well loved. It hurts just the same. At 97, he has four beautiful daughters who love him tremendously, the way we all hope our kids love us. He goes away well loved, leaving with no question marks or doubts about that, and it is love that is the most important thing. He is and was loved. Death. It happens to us. All of us. And when it does, the dead person is gone and those of us they leave behind have to deal ...

Short and sweet today. Caroline lost a dear friend on Saturday, and we're a bit stressed, disheveled emotionally, and trying to get ready to go to Phoenix for the funeral. Catholic Bishop Robert Barron In the last week or two, I've become aware of comments on current political issues from a Catholic Bishop named Robert Barron. Bishop Barron. What strikes me is how unabashedly conservative Barron is. I am quite used to almost every leader in the Catholic Church coming across as quite liberal... quite. This goes from the Pope on down. I did some looking for more info on this, because Barron's positions not only mirror my own, but because I rarely, if ever, hear anything similar from others. In doing so, I did find that as far as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) go, Barron is pretty much alone in some of his political views. Here's where something kind of hit me. I am quite used to hearing leftist kinds of proclamations from our Bishops. Heck, Catho...

I'm Catholic. Always have been. Am today. And I always will be. But I don't do apologetics. I've always been uncomfortable knowing that various groups of believing Christians are at odds with one another over doctrine, practice, and one another's traditions. Further, as a Catholic who is working hard to better or fully understand every nuance of my faith, my Church, and its teachings, rules, customs, etc., so often I see people who aren't Catholic who explain my Church, my faith, and what they presume that I believe incorrectly, I recognize that I can't possibly endeavor to inform or aid them to a better understanding, of which they had no interest prior, and I know that they certainly won't listen or respond open-mindedly to my explanations. So, since I'm not into apologetics, making this post tonight wasn't on my bingo card. How did I get here, then, to be writing this piece? I was surfing YouTube day before yesterday, and I came across a video abo...