As the infancy Gospel of St. Luke tells us, St. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary had to go to the place of Joseph’s birth, Bethlehem, which had also been the city of King David’s birth.
Apocalyptic writings, such as those of Daniel and the passage from St. Mark that we heard in Sunday Mass two weeks ago, use vivid imagery to depict old ways destroyed and new ones begun
There are so many elements and traditions of Catholicism that are hard to conceive for adults, much less tiny rascals. This realization brings much humor to my life. I am often blessed with the hilarity that comes from children trying to explain and live the faith.
Perhaps the Diocese of Baton Rouge’s greatest legacy is its generosity to reaching out to those in need, not only on a daily basis but especially during natural disasters or in a humanitarian crisis.
I write my own headlines. So I can assure you I am not trying to be critical of Pope Francis’ latest call for a synod. However, when they heard the theme of the synod, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission,” some reporters on the Vatican beat complained, “A process about a process, what could be duller?”
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, As another week has passed and we all share in the hard work of responding to the needs of our faithful in the wake of Hurricane Ida, I am reminded daily of a very simple yet vital attitude we must adopt and exhibit, and that is gratitude. My message to you today is mainly to reiterate those two simple words we all learned when we were a child, “thank you.”
In a very thoughtful column for our Sept. 10 issue of The Catholic Commentator, Bishop (Michael G.) Duca urged us to change our goal of “getting back to normal” after a year and a half of a pandemic and then Hurricane Ida, to following Jesus’ command to “love one another.”
Recently at a workshop, a woman shared her anxiety about the death of her brother. Her older brother had died from COVID-19 before there were vaccines for it and had died because he had dangerously exposed himself to catching the virus.
Hurricanes are like getting rear-ended while waiting for a stoplight to change. Nothing you could have done caused the minor or major damage done to your property and/or to yourself and others with you. You just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. (This analogy does not hold for personal injury if ordered to evacuate by experts and civil authorities.)
