What church should I belong to? Recently I was asked the question “what church should I belong to?” This can be tricky because no matter what I church I recommend I am sure to upset someone. But if I’m honest, (and I try to be) I must answer the question with decorum, sensitivity, and above all, truth. Therefore, in all honesty, I must profess that the last thing I want to do is to make this decision for someone else. YOU must be the one who makes this decision because YOU are the one who must live with the consequences of it (which can be eternal). If someone is asking “what church should I belong to” it usually means that they are unhappy or unfulfilled in their own church. To which I say GOOD! Because this means that God is prompting you to examine your relationship with Him more deeply. I taught Catechism (Sunday School) for many years and on day-one the first question I normally would ask the students is “why are you Catholic”… Read More »Post #11
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Happy New Year – Welcome to 2026! Where does the time go and how is it that I find myself in the year 2026 already? How did I get here? Simple; one day at a time. We are linear beings who are tied to this string called time and pulled ever forward into the future. Are you ready for tomorrow? Well, ready or not, here it comes. It’s hard to believe that one fourth of the twenty first century is already gone. Where did it go? It slipped past us one day at a time. I was praying with someone the other day when this same topic came up and there was (not surprisingly) a fear of the future. The person had many questions like “What will happen to my family?”, “What if I die early?” and “What if I don’t make it to heaven?” All were valid questions. The Bible tells us over one hundred times to not be afraid[1] and while this is good advice, it doesn’t just tell us not… Read More »Post #10
Post #10
Christmas 2025 Did you ever in your life think that simply saying “Merry Christmas” could ever become offensive – to anyone? Times have certainly changed – and not necessarily for the better. Yet, through it all, there is a definite peace about the earth. Much like the blanket of new fallen snow that silently dampens my backyard, so too the world becomes silent – and yet, something is stirring; something is happening. Christ is near, and nothing else matters. We are so unbelievably blessed to live in these times. Six thousand years of human history…and in only 1/3 of that time did people have the chance to know Jesus. Can you imagine the scene at His birth? The sound of angels singing? The archangels blending their voices in harmony, the cherubim offering their angelic praises, all joining in so as to be part of this singular and holy event. He who was above, is now – if only for a brief time – among us to gain for us our redemption. And now, 2,025 years… Read More »Post #9
Post #9
The Boy in the Blanket God’s Love Found Its Way Into My BrokennessBY: LESLIE KOWALSKI You wouldn’t call my childhood the happiest one a person could have. Growing up in a tiny, run-down house as the tenth of twelve children—with parents who struggled with mental health issues—I certainly learned about the fear of God. But I didn’t know how much God loved me. We were very poor, and we rarely had enough food. My father would sometimes shoot squirrels from out of the bathroom window so that we could eat, and other days we would crawl through grocery store dumpsters looking for food. We didn’t have any blankets, so in the winter we put our legs through the sleeves of moth-eaten coats. It was a hard life, but things began to change when, at twelve years old, I started babysitting for my oldest sister. She and her husband were Catholic, and I would attend Mass with the family. I could feel the presence of God in that church. My faith kept growing through marriage, the… Read More »Post #8
Post #8
Advent – The Dress Rehearsal One example of something different between men and women are dress rehearsals. Men hate them, but women love them and whether you like it or not, we have a very special dress rehearsal coming up. It’s called Advent. When we have important company coming over what do we do? We clean house and spruce up the place. For everyday guests we might make the place clean and orderly but for special guests we go further. For them, we don’t just put clutter away, we actually sort it and throw it out (Ladies, think when your future mother-in-law is coming to visit). But what about those once-in-a-lifetime, really special guests? What if it were (insert name here… the Pope, the Queen, the President, etc.) who was coming? Someone who would be followed by the press and their own entourage? Now we’re talking about a formal dress rehearsal. Well, guess what? In about a month, Jesus is coming. Are you ready? I’m not. In fact, I’ll probably never truly be ready to… Read More »Post # 7
Post # 7
Are you saved? “Are you saved?” she asked me. “Absolutely, and I hope to be in heaven one day.” I replied. “Brother, if were are saved, then you would know you are going to heaven. When were you saved?” she asked“Just today” I said.“Well, Halleluiah!” she exclaimed. I knew what she meant, but I was headed to a destination and I was on a tight time scale. I would have loved to have talked more with my rather jubilant sister but time did not permit. I anticipate that the conversation would have angled toward the topic such of “once saved always saved” which I do not ascribe to for several reasons: But so what? There are lots of words that are not in the Bible that we know plenty about (words like internet, porn, abortion and television). Are we to assume these things don’t exist? Of course not. Look, we are not automatons or machines that God programmed to think, act, and feel in a certain way. We are free beings created in His image.… Read More »Post #6
Post #6
We are healed before we enter heaven He was a well-loved, elderly priest in who fell and injured himself very badly. In fact, it was to be a fatal injury. He had been severely afflicted with scoliosis for most of his life and while he was about 5’10” in height, with his back disfigured the way it was he probably stood about 5’0”. In fact, he was so bent over that when he consecrated the Eucharist, he held it up over his head but was unable to look upon it while doing so. Though retired as a priest, he volunteered his time at a hospital for many years and was well loved by the staff. He was especially good friends with the hospital Chaplin, who was a nurse and an ordained pastor at her church. The Chaplin (who is a personal friend of mine) has a very special gift. When God allows it, she can see the angels and the saints. Since she’d formed a very close relationship with the priest and since she was… Read More »Post #5
Post #5
How to pray effectively We all pray, but do we pray well? People often say to me “I pray but nothing happens, why is that? Is God ignoring me?” No. The book of James says, “You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (Jas 4:3) But what does this mean and how do I fix it? Well, recently, I ran into someone who needed prayer and the result was (what I call) a textbook perfect example of how to interact with God in prayer. Allow me to explain. When I pray, I’m usually praying for someone else’s needs (this is called supplicating prayer). Supplicating prayer is powerful because it is unselfish since the focus is on someone else. Praying for ourselves is fine, but when combined with other factors, such as fasting, a pure intent and whether other people are praying for you, it is even better. I often say that healing prayer is 95% dependent on God and 5% on me (but I have to leverage… Read More »Post #4
Post #4
We are body AND soul Although we don’t see it, a sick soul can cause a sick body. The amount of people who ask me for prayer for physical issues that actually have a spiritual component to them is incredible. What do I mean by this? Well, we are made of body and spirit and while we cannot see our spirit with our physical eyes, we know it is there. This why a sick body can cause a sick soul and why a sick soul can lead to a sick body. “But John” people say “how can you say that? There’s no physical evidence or proof that a soul exists!” Well, just because we can’t see feel or touch something does not mean it doesn’t exist. There are things that we know to exist that are completely immaterial. “That’s impossible!” people say. Oh really? How about gravity? Gravity is immaterial, yet no one would deny that it has great effect on us. Interestingly, although we can measure its effect on material things, we can’t measure… Read More »Post #3
Post #3
Forgiveness vs. Reconciliation Christ forgave everyone; why can’t I? One of the hardest things to do, whether it’s in a prayer session or in life, is to forgive. This is because we look at forgiveness through our lens, not in God’s. Here’s an example. Let’s say that you do something to me and I forgive you. Forgiveness does not mean that you were right, and I was wrong. It does not mean that you and I will be best friends from now on. Nor does it mean that I have persuaded you towards my way of thinking and I will “feel” better. In fact, these conditions more closely describe reconciliation than forgiveness and the two are distinctly separate. This is why we can have forgiveness AND reconciliation, forgiveness and NO reconciliation, but we can’t have reconciliation without forgiveness. Forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. Jesus forgave everyone but I seriously doubt he felt better after doing so because He was nailed to a cross. It’s also important to note that forgiveness involves 2 people… Read More »Post #2