Overcome Concupiscence with the Power of Virtue
Mankind’s Original Harmony Before Original Sin, Adam and Eve enjoyed a state called “Original Justice.” Basically, this means that everything inside Adam and Eve was in harmony. Their personalities were led by the intellect (the ability to know the truth) and then guided by the will (the ability to choose the greatest good), followed by…
Read MoreLiving the Evangelical Counsels in Your State of Life
Living as a disciple of Christ involves living out our vocation, our office, and our mission. We do all of this within a state of life – whether we are married, ordained, or in the consecrated or religious life. Each of us is equipped and called in a unique way by the Holy Spirit. However,…
Read MoreCatholic Prayer: Activating the Power of Your Confirmation
The sacraments are the fountain of grace that Jesus gave us to connect to Him and to His Body, the Church. So it makes sense for us to turn to the sacraments when we want to deepen our Catholic prayer life. The Sacrament of Confirmation is an untapped power for most Catholics. It has taken…
Read MoreHow Christian Friendship Keeps Us Accountable
There are many benefits to Christian friendship, from making us smarter to teaching us how to love. Another potent benefit of friendship is its ability to make us better people. A good friendship can form our character in three powerful ways. Friends Form the Atmosphere of Our Lives Our friendships form the atmosphere of our…
Read MoreGod’s Thirst Meets Ours: The Desire of Catholic Prayer
Catholic prayer is a personal relationship with God. But this relationship is not the emotional feeling of connection that modern Christians often associate with a “personal relationship with Jesus.” In fact, Catholic spiritual masters often warn against being driven by feelings. While feelings of warmth and closeness to God are certainly real, and are in…
Read MoreWhy We Catholics Pray to the Saints
Learn the answers to 8 questions about the practice of praying to Catholic saints in Catholic spirituality.
Read MoreDo Catholics Worship Saints?
Father Mike Schmitz explores the claim that Catholics worship saints by praying to them. 00:00:07 Hi my name’s Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents. 00:00:10 So I was recently talking with a man, he’s a missionary with FOCUS: The Fellowship of Catholic University Students. This awesome guy; he wasn’t always a missionary and…
Read MoreDaily Bible: The Lord Secures Justice
Read Today’s Readings In Philemon 7-20 we see Saint Paul navigating the challenges that the Gospel poses to human culture. The slave Onesimus escapes from Philemon, who is a Christian, and runs to Saint Paul, apparently seeking sanctuary. Saint Paul’s response is to send Onesimus back to Philemon with this letter. In the letter Saint Paul…
Read MoreDaily Bible: Be Blameless
Read Today’s Readings Today’s first reading is from Saint Paul’s letter to Titus 1:1-9. Saint Paul has ordained Titus as a bishop, and has instructed Titus to in turn raise up bishops in each city where he starts a local church. In the time of the apostles, the term for bishop and priest were used…
Read MoreDaily Bible: You Are the Temple
Read Today’s Readings In today’s first reading from Ezekiel 47:1-12, the prophet shares his vision of a river flowing from the temple, giving life wherever it flowed. The river represented the Covenant, the love of God flowing into the world. For the Jewish people from the time of Solomon until its destruction in 70AD, the…
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