Contagious Gratitude for Holy Mass
We are well into Advent, as the coming of the Christ-child is near. What a good time to find ways to bring joy and happiness to our family, friends, neighbors, and to all of Chicago. Last week we considered how to draw others to make a good Confession in preparation...
Contagious Attitude For Forgiveness
As we live out this time of Advent and approach Christmas we want to prepare ourselves and our family, friends, neighbors, and all of Chicago, for the coming of the child Jesus. The best way to be prepared for this great event is the way God prepared Mary: he freed...
Returning to Sunday Obligation
Returning to Sunday Obligation On the First Sunday of Advent, the dispensation from obligation to attend Mass on Sunday will be lifted in the Archdiocese of Chicago. While many people have returned to regular Sunday Mass attendance—our numbers at St. Mary of the...
Objectivizing Adam and Eve’s Fruit
Objectivizing Adam and Eve’s Fruit At the pinnacle of creation, God created our first parents: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,...
Battling for Life: It’s Only Just Begun
The recent Supreme Court act to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is the answer to years of prayer and hard work. While the recent Supreme Court action still allows for abortion, it is just not a right protected by the Constitution. Now it will be up to each...
End of the Year of the Family
Today ends the Year of the Family that began on the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 2021. As a parish, St. Mary of the Angels started the year of the Family earlier, in July 2020. So it has been two years of special focus on the family. Strong Catholic Parents— Strong...
Happy Father’s Day! Happy Corpus Christi!
Jesus Christ became man to reveal to us God the Father, so we will love God as a father, as our true Father, who loves us just as we are, with our smallness and weakness. Even on Corpus Christi, Jesus reveals the paternal love of the Father, as he taught us in his...
Setting S.M.A.R.T. Milestones and GoalS
Small children usually need punishments and rewards to help them acquire virtue and self-control. Adults take ownership of their lives, shaping themselves by the repetition of good acts and avoiding the near occasions of unhealthy and sinful behavior. To acquire...
Motivating Digital Virtue
The addictive nature of screens, computer games, and social media means that sometimes “the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38), that is, sometimes we know and desire virtuous behavior but our flesh gets the better of us and we compulsively...
Digital Calming
Computer games and other apps on the phone, tablet, or computer tend to trigger the release of chemicals (dopamine, adrenaline, norepinephrine) in the brain. This drives addiction, finding ways to reduce and control the release of those chemicals can be key to acquire...