Every Sunday, we pray a dangerous prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It’s dangerous because we’re asking God to judge us as we judge others, creating our own measuring stick for God to use: “The measure you give will be the measure you get” (Mt 7:2). There is good news here as well. If we need forgiveness from God, he promises it to us so long as we ourselves show mercy. We are not judged, however, by how we treat our friends, bu

By Father Greg Cleveland, O.M.V. G.K. Chesterton and several other literary figures were asked one evening what book they would prefer to have with them if stranded on a desert isle. One writer said without hesitation: “The complete works of Shakespeare.” Another said, “I’d choose the Bible.” They turned to Chesterton. “How about you?” And Chesterton replied, “I would choose Thomas’s Guide to Practical Ship Building .”  Like Chesterton, we might be looking to escape our conf

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary” (Lk 10:41-42). It would be easy to imagine Christ saying this to us now, calling us away from our anxieties to sit at his feet, like Martha’s sister Mary. Jesus wants to give us the peace that we need in the midst of our anxiety about “many things.” By calling us into communion with him, Jesus shows us that He is the one thing that is necessary, the most essential thing in our li

By Anthony St. Louis-Sanchez During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christian faithful of the Archdiocese of Denver have received a dispensation from their Sunday obligation of participating in Mass. This dispensation was given in a decree of the Archbishop of Denver. One might wonder whether the Archbishop of Denver has the authority to issue such a dispensation. Let’s consider closely what a dispensation is and is not. A dispensation is a relaxation of an ecclesia

In a letter to the world’s bishops dated August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, and approved for publication by Pope Francis on Sept. 3, Robert Cardinal Sarah, who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Vatican, invited the Catholic world to return to Mass. The sentence you have just read would have seemed ridiculous just nine months ago. The Sunday Mass “obligation” is a unique facet of Catholic culture

Saint Joseph was given the mission to protect, guide and provide for two people conceived without sin, Mary and Jesus, which means that...