Religious Education - Children
Catechist BlogJoy – The Fulfilment of God’s Promises and Plan
Today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. It is a day of great joy throughout all the Church. In Peru, John the Baptist is the patron saint in the jungle areas and until recently this feast was a national holiday, and it is still the national day of the common...
A Call to Action
In the first reading for today we encountered one of the passages that, the first time I read it, I had to blink, shake my head to remove possible cobwebs, and then re-read. Did they just find “the book of the law” (2 Kings 22:8)? Were the first five books of the Old...
The Narrow Gate
In today’s Gospel Jesus exhorts us to “enter through the narrow gate.” As Jesus comes to the end of his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:28) he gives us a summary of his teachings and an exhortation to not only hear the words of his teaching but also to do them. ...
Stop Judging
Jesus’ command in today’s Gospel is simple and direct: “Stop judging.” Notice Jesus does not say, “Do not judge,” but “Stop judging.” He knows that “religious” people have a tendency to judge and condemn. Jesus tells us, “Stop it!” Instead of judging others Jesus...
Idols and Faith
In the Old Testament today we see how Israel returned to the Lord after a time of service to a foreign idol. Repeatedly through the Old Testament Israel is called back to the Lord after many detours of service to foreign idols. In the Sermon on the Mount in today’s...
Thy Will Be Done
How should we pray? There have been numerous books that have been written on prayer. Some of these books provide descriptions of the various types of prayer (e.g., praise, petition, contemplative prayer) while others provide a practical guide on how to pray. In...
The Challenge of Stargazing
In her best-selling book Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor reflects on the many ways God reveals himself in the dark, that we can discover God in the moonlight as well as the sunlight. She writes about being unable to sleep after a long, demanding...
The Whirlwind
Every now and again, someone in the Sacrament of Confession will mention a sin, and comment, “I know it's wrong, but no one is hurt except me.” In yesterday’s first reading we heard the first part of the story of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel conspiring to dispossess...
St. Anthony of Padua
Most people know St. Anthony of Padua as the patron saint of lost and stolen articles, but have you ever wondered why he is that particular patron saint? The Patron Saint of Lost Things. The reason for invoking St. Anthony’s help in finding lost or stolen things is...
Protecting Life – a moral issue
These past few weeks our nation has witnessed once again the terrible and tragic mass killings of our fellow citizens, most recently, young children. Some would have us believe that these tragedies are due to the violent acts of individuals who are mentally ill. That...