Rome 120

Just a little bonus track from a daily mass homily on the celebration of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Never forget the power of listening to the WORD over the noise of life.

#busy #noise #distraction #prayer #quiet #meditation

Sometimes you just need to see the big picture. Show me the high-level, then I can get down into the weeds. Well, if you are just gathering intel on this concept of faith and Catholicism, there's a great starting point. Learning the history of what Jesus walked into in the middle of in first century Judea. High-level first, then the finer points.

#killingjesus #billoreilly #romanempire #firstcentury #history #faith #historicaljesus #deodorant

What if Christ actually wanted us to have a great life? What if He wants us happy, content, loved, and at peace? Spoiler alert, that's exactly what He wants. There's a great dialog in the beginning of the second letter of Peter (2 Peter 1:3-8). Peter lays it all out with beautiful clarity, via a simple premise. Live well, with discipline and love, and life is good. Trade the chaos for the great promises of morality, and avoid the corruption of the world.

#fiveoclocksomewhere #happyhour #morality #faith #virtue #glory #excellence

Grandpa is in a better place. Really? Says who? Religious and non-religious folks cannot escape the thought of the afterlife. As soon as people pass, it seems everyone is in automatically in a better place. We all want to believe it, but the two-thousand-year-old theological premise is clear. We are accountable to how we live. Tough topic.

#fireandbrimstone #heaven #hell #purgatory #goodvibes #love #accountability #whiteboard #manifestations #good #catholic #sundayfunday

You can pick a Catholic out of a crowd. Its easy to size up a Roman from 1,000 yards out. How? The sign of the cross. We brand ourselves Catholic. But, why? The answer is so simple and so profound.

#catholic #signofthecross #mackarelsnapper #romancatholic #faith #visual #love #mass

Father's Day, for most of us, becomes an annual pilgrimage to church and a backyard barbecue. A couple of beers and some nice attention from the family never hurt any hard working dad. But, the sacramental committment to raise God's gift of children, such that they can take on a dark world, is no easy task. Be not afraid Dad. Hang in there.

#fathersday #father #dad #catholic #popejohn23 #summer #barbecue #Dad #kids #girldad #boydad

Catholic guilt is legendary. Every fraternity house knows the Catholic dudes because they actually carry around guilt for acting like idiots on Saturday night. Guilt and indulgences are a deeply important theological topic. Christ died on the cross and paid our debt of sin. Nothing we can do can supercede such love. But, we are called to add our sufferings, prayers, actions and whole life to that same cross. It's a drop in the bucket compared to Christ, but we are to do our part. Enter the concept of induldgences.

#catholicteaching #protestant #indulgences #sundayfunday #mass #prayers #rosary #memorarae #adoration #plenary #partial #faith #salvation

Good deeds. Get busy. Volunteer. Fill your plate. Or, take another look at the original 12 who followed Christ. Our savior invested a lot of time making sure these guys changed into who they were to BE, before they were sent out to work. Formation first, action second.

Right after the big week we start to see Peter and the apostles start growing into their roles. Peter, in particular, will take the reigns of what will become the global force that is the Catholic church. What was Peter thinking at the moment in when he first performed a miracle in the name of Jesus? That must have been quite a moment. During the Octave of Easter pay close attention to how the apostles are becoming leaders.

Passed over for promotion time and again. Boy that gets frustrating. But, maybe you weren't meant for that job in the first place. Ambition can be blinding, even to otherwise upstanding people. The mother of James and John found that out the hard way, thinking that bucking for a promotion with Jesus was a good idea. Ambition can be blinding.