He is Risen! “But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly” (1 Peter 4:13) We cannot follow Jesus Christ without sharing in His Cross. “But after the trial, what a reward!” (St. Therese) Just as Christ was “made perfect” by what he suffered … Read More
What is Normal?
A couple of my fellow contributors to the Ignitum Today blog are asking for lots of prayers. Andrew and Christina were married in October of 2011. Just one month later they happily discovered that Christina was with child. However, their elation soon turned to concern when their unborn daughter, Maria Isabella, was diagnosed with Spina Bifida. Right now, Christina and … Read More
We Cannot Follow Christ Without Sharing in His Cross
Today is the 12th anniversary of my paralyzing car accident. It is also the feast of St. John of the Cross, the real Dark Knight. Coincidence? I think not. This writing from a spiritual Canticle of his sums up much of what I have learned over the course of the last twelve years: “[T]he apostle Paul said of Christ: In … Read More
Don’t Run From Suffering; Run to the Cross
EWTN’s “Ask Grace” on redemptive suffering: Previous posts: Refusing to Suffer is Refusing to Live Take Up Your Cross How Do You Respond to the Cross? Encouragement: The Cross It is Not By Fleeing Suffering That We Are Healed Lessons from a Little Flower The Apostolate of Suffering Pain: God’s Megaphone to Rouse a Deaf World
The Task of Life
Earlier this month, the UK Daily Mail ran what is truly one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read. It’s one woman’s first-hand account of how she helped her mother dehydrate to death. At the age of 88, paralysed, incontinent and unable to speak following a series of small strokes, her mother had had enough. She wasn’t dying. She … Read More
Better Off Dead?
Today Judie Brown re-published on her blog a post I wrote a few years ago here on mine. It’s was a response to two articles debating whether a set of conjoined twins “deserved to be born” (not really “euthanasia” as I originally said in the post, der. Should have said eugenics). Since the subject matter is still relavent today (both … Read More
“God Took the Burden of that Suffering Off of Us”
“(God) used that physical and mental and spiritual depletion to bring us to an end of ourselves and a place where we would have to depend on His strength instead of our own” -Greg Lucas: Wrestling With An Angel from Brian Patton on Vimeo. Yes, life is hard when you have a child with disabilities, but it is also very … Read More
Beautiful People
It is not fleeing from suffering that heals us, but our willingness to accept it, mature through it and find meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love (Spe Salvi, 37).
Authentic Love
“Authentic love is not a vague sentiment or a blind passion. It is an inner attitude that involves the whole human being. It is looking at others, not to use them but to serve them. Love, in a word, is the gift of self.” – Blessed John Paul II In today’s culture it is considered “loving” for families to end … Read More
WarTide!
I’m pretty sure I’d love this even if I wasn’t an SEC brat: in Alabama, some Auburn fans have set aside their long-standing and very bitter rivalry with the University of Alabama to help out the devastated college’s hometown after it bore the brunt of one of the deadliest storms in American history last month. Over the past few weeks, … Read More