What Fire Cleanses?

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The fires in the cities do not purify or cleanse.  They destroy.  The Holy Spirit, the fire of God makes clean those who believe.  What renews the world is not the mob that destroys but the assembly of all those who hear the Word and receive the Sacraments, the holy…
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The Ideological Use of a Virus (Covid-19)

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A virus is not just a virus.  It has become the focus of the on-going ideological battle between the left and the right.  Stop reading this article if you think you will be disappointed, because I do not take a political-ideological position.  Rather, I will attempt to take a Christian…
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Religious vs. Spiritual

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When I was visiting a dying parishioner in the middle of the night, I spoke in the hallway with an orderly about religion  I don’t remember how this conversation got started. He said to me that he was spiritual rather than religious.  What he meant was that he had invented…
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The Great Revolution

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Neither the French nor the Russian revolution was beneficial to the people.  While the French revolution provided some benefit, it also established a reign of terror in which many people were killed and provided a platform for Napoleon and the Napoleonic wars. The Russian revolution provided little or nothing for the…
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The Power of the Invisible

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We moderns know about invisible realities of which our ancestors had no awareness.  Micro-organism were first observed under a microscope in the late 17th century. Radiation beyond visible light was first detected at the very end of the 18th century. Microbes and radiation, not known till recent times, have a…
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Christian Leadership

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From the earliest days of the Church, congregations have possessed leaders.  The offices of presbyter and deacon were already emerging at the time the New Testament was being written.  Along with Saint Paul himself the Pauline churches were guided by local shepherds. In Acts 20 Paul gives instruction to the…
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Who or What is Absurd?

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The nihilists of the 20th century have asserted that the universe is absurd, that is, meaningless for human beings who seek meaning. It is in our nature. Outside the human community, the universe cannot be classified as either absurd or meaningful.  It simply is. It is human beings’ perceptions that…
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