Friday, March 29, 2019081I recall playing with my nephew Lucas, who was roughly 2 years old at the time. I held up a mirror to him, and asked him whose picture he saw in the mirror. He shouted, “That’s Lucas!” I responded, “But who is Lucas?” With a happy giggle, he squealed, “Me!”
Friday, March 1, 20190270
By Father Thomas Esposito
Special to The Texas Catholic
My first years as a priest and spiritual director have taught me that many people do not love themselves as they should. This is hardly a matter of selfish egoism – we must, after all, begin with a healthy love of self if we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Leviticus...
Friday, February 1, 20190142God does not experience or suffer emotions as we do. Theologians rightly point out that the divine essence, so utterly transcendent, not limited by bodily form, cannot be moved or changed in the way that human beings are, subject as we are to the passage of time, emotional upheaval, and our mortal bodies. Given the radical differences...
Thursday, December 27, 20180147An elderly priest recounted to me a conversation he once had with a devout Muslim. The primary topic of their friendly dialogue was the identity of Jesus. When the priest had finished explaining the mystery of the Incarnation (that is, of God becoming fully human in Christ) as best he could, the Muslim snapped in response, “Why would...
Thursday, November 15, 20180167Humanae Vitae is not an elegant treatise on the Church’s traditional teaching against artificial contraception. It lacks the philosophical brilliance of Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body, which appeared a decade or so after Pope Paul VI absorbed crushing criticism of his encyclical “on human life.” Cardinal Ratzinger...
Thursday, October 18, 20180379My friend Father Josh Whitfield of St. Rita Catholic Church recently wrote a fine Dallas Morning News op-ed in which he suggests that America is experiencing a political and cultural unraveling, both of which are symptoms of a more terrible spiritual malady.
Saturday, September 22, 2018061By Father Thomas Esposito
Special to The Texas Catholic
Almost every semester, I teach a course for freshmen at the University of Dallas entitled “Understanding the Bible,” though most students prefer the hipster nickname of “Under the Bible.” I do not believe that I will ever tire of teaching this introductory class. I’m...
Saturday, August 25, 201801068>“Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am coming against these shepherds. I will take my sheep out of their hand and put a stop to their shepherding my flock, so that these shepherds will no longer pasture them. I will deliver my flock from their mouths so it will not become their food”
Sunday, June 17, 20180270We derive our words “graduate” and “graduation” from the Latin gradus, meaning “step” or “degree” (as in stages or metrics, not a pun connected to the granting of a diploma). The sense, of course, is that new graduates have taken a step forward and are moving up the ladder of achievement. The sunny buoyancy of parents...
Friday, May 11, 20180249Two of the sacraments of initiation, Baptism and Confirmation, are one-time events in a Catholic’s life, not to be repeated again. They are certainly spiritual milestones, and the graces conferred through the signs of water, oil, and the laying on of hands grant the person receiving them a beautiful beginning to the life of faith. The...
