Category: Ordinary Time
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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Contrition, and Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, click here. Its focus is contrition. Some theologians, even some who have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, make ambiguous statements that seem to mean it is not necessary for a sinner to repent, that is, to turn away from his sin. Yet,…
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The Baptism of the Lord, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, and another book
For three Doctrinal Homily Outlines for the Baptism of the Lord (January 8) and one for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (January 14), please click here and then scroll down. A Catholic philosopher and religious writer that 20th Century popes considered perhaps the greatest of their time was Dietrich von Hildebrand. One of his…
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Four levels of happiness
The four levels of happiness One of the wisest Catholic writers alive is Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J. Just one of his many insights into human nature and our salvation and sanctification is his model of the four levels of happiness. These four types of happiness, ranked in their natural order of value and importance, are…
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The Gift of the Holy Spirit of Understanding
This is the last of seven little reflections on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Etymologically, to understand means to stand-under, but the older meaning of under is in the midst of. When you understand something, you are standing within it. You are intellectually grasping what is around you. You get “it,” it being the…
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The Gift of the Holy Spirit of Wisdom
The word wisdom is one we may use casually without really thinking about what it means. If we reflect on how we use it, the word wisdom relates to truth. It has to do with seeing the truth about something. The truth about that something might have many dimensions. In addition, we are not wise…
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The Gift of the Holy Spirit of Knowledge
There is a famous (or infamous) meme that runs, “That’s what I do. I drink and I know things.” In reality, to be true, we should change this saying to “That’s what we do. We think and we know things!” Ordinary knowledge is when a person assimilates something outside one’s mind into one’s mind. Assimilate…
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The Gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel
As a natural virtue, counsel is the good intellectual habit of seeking advice. The Latin word consilium means deliberation or advice. A person may take counsel in himself by thinking things through. One can also get good advice outside of oneself. This is why we call a lawyer a counsellor. As Fr. John Hardon, S.J. puts…
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The Gift of the Holy Spirit: Piety
Like the word prudence, piety has been given wholly undeserved negative connotations in our modern irreligious, hateful, and ungrateful world. Let’s fix that. The term “piety” is used for both a natural virtue, a supernatural virtue, and a Gift of the Holy Spirit. As Fr. John Hardon, S.J., points out, piety as a natural virtue…
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The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Fortitude
Since the order in which I am presenting the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the order which I find easier to understand (under the assumption that others have the same difficulties that I do), the next gift I will try to explain is the gift of fortitude. Note that there is the natural virtue…
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The Gift of the Holy Spirt: Fear of the Lord
One of the easier gifts of the Holy Spirit to understand, I think, is the last listed, the gift of fear. Fear of God is one of the gifts that pertain to a person’s will. With our human will, assisted by God’s grace, we have the freedom to choose good actions that lead to our…
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Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1830-1831) says that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit “sustain” a Christian’s “moral life.” Moral life has to do with the good or evil acts that form the character and eternal destiny of a person. These seven gifts of the Holy Spirit—that is, wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge,…
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. In the life of Christ, we see extreme hatred turned on him, even though he went about…