Faith
SHARING the CHRISTMAS GIFT
Christmas is a time of giving. It is the celebration of the greatest gift of all: Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given to us at his birth on Christmas day. One of the ways we celebrate that great gift Read more…
Ethics
COOPERATION with EVIL
To “cooperate with evil” sounds like a horrible thing to do—and it can be. But some cooperation with evil is inevitable and unavoidable for almost everyone. The reason for this is that human beings are inherently social creatures. We live Read more…
Faith
PRAYING for MIRACLES
People faced with dire circumstances often pray to God for miracles. The patients in the hospitals I serve, along with their families and loved ones, frequently offer such prayers. In the church of St. Catherine of Siena, where I live Read more…
Healthcare
BEING ANGRY with GOD
“I am angry with God” I often hear this from patients in the hospitals. They are expressing disappointment, the feeling that God has let them down. It may be a woman who has prayed to God for healing and the Read more…
Faith
FACING ILLNESS and DARING to HOPE
For he assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh, and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago, and opened the way to eternal salvation, that, when he comes again in glory and majesty and all is Read more…
Faith
CARE for the SICK and REIGN with CHRIST the KING
I was ill and you cared for me. (Matt 25:36) So the king will say, seated on his glorious throne with all his angels in attendance and all the nations assembled before him: some on his right and some on Read more…
Faith
EXCELLENT MINISTERS of HOLY COMMUNION: PART II
The virtues that characterize excellent ministers of Holy Communion was the subject of our last reflection. We considered the virtue of religion, by which human beings render fitting reverence to God, and also adoration, an exterior act of religion by Read more…
Faith
EXCELLENT MINISTERS of HOLY COMMUNION: PART I
One of the most important parts of Catholic health care ministry is the administration of Holy Communion. This much needed ministry and sacred charge is carried out by bishops, priests, and deacons who, by virtue of their ordination, serve as Read more…
Ethics
ETHICS as RESTORING the IMAGE of GOD
Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his great Summa Theologica, begins his treatment of ethics with the Christian understanding that human beings are created in the image of God. Following Saint John Damascene, he observes that human beings image God most especially Read more…
Ethics
DOING GOOD while PERMITTING EVIL
For human beings, doing good means choosing a good moral object for the sake of a good end. If a man chooses something morally bad as a means to achieving something morally good, his action is bad altogether. Likewise, if Read more…
Ethics
DOING GOOD and AVOIDING EVIL
Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. This is the first principle of ethical human action as articulated by Saint Thomas Aquinas, who relies on the classical wisdom of Aristotle and represents much of Read more…