I remember how anxious and worried I would be over each new crisis that erupted during my divorce. After the storm passed, I would feel relieved. I would believe I had dealt with the last major problem and calm seas would now prevail. Wrong. No matter how many times I went through the same cycle, […]
When I was a kid, my parents would allow me to ride my bike two miles to a nearby river where I liked to fish. One day, I decided to take a shortcut that a friend had told me about. The further I went down my new path, the more anxious I became. The river […]
Recently, I was speaking to a group on the virtue of chastity. A highly charged topic, for sure. One woman raised her hand and offered that what she was most afraid of was being alone the rest of her life. She felt she was in a Catch-22 of sorts. She was afraid that if she committed to […]
“I love you, Daddy-O,” my 19-year-old daughter said to me as she hugged me goodbye. She then climbed into her car to drive the five hundred miles to the Naval Air Base that would be her home for the next six months. She had been home on leave for about ten days, and we had […]
“If you have to go through a divorce, thank God you are Catholic!” I exclaimed to a group of divorced and separated Catholics. A puzzled look replaced the mostly pain-filled expressions I saw staring back at me. I knew what they were thinking: “How is being Catholic going to get me out of this mess?” […]
Every summer, right after school gets out, we head down to the beach for our summer break. During one recent trip, I was driving into town early one morning to pick up a few things for breakfast. The drive is about four miles long with a sidewalk that runs along one side of the road. […]
There is the darkness of divorce, and then there is Jesus. He is just the opposite. He is the light. He is the dawn. He is the new day. His light drives away the darkness of fear, sin, and doubt, filling you with hope and the promise of better days. You no longer have to […]
We all know someone who we would consider a fanatic. Someone who is consumed with a sports team, or a particular brand of car, or shoes, or clothes, or making money. Whatever their infatuation, it defines them. They are known by it. They are the Red Sox freak, or the Mercedes guy, or the Prada […]
In general, we don’t like change. Change equals risk, and people tend to be risk averse. It comes from our basic survival instincts. When we lived in caves, change could mean not finding any food, or worse still, stumbling upon some wild animal and becoming their food. (Yikes!) We seem to equate change with being […]
Fr. Larry Richards tells a very powerful story of God’s abundant love. The night before he was to be ordained a priest, he was wrestling mightily with the vow of celibacy he was going to have to take the next day. It was not the sexual temptations that were causing him the greatest struggle. It […]