[Pearls Ep 149:  Preparing for Sunday.] To play the role of “masters of the obvious” – Advent prepares us for Christmas, and Christmas is a time for gifts. And, as we discuss in this week’s Pearls of the Interior Life, Christ has a gift for each of us. And we know many of you reading Read More >

[Pearls Ep 149:  Preparing for Sunday.] Here’s one of many wonderful scenes in It’s a Wonderful Life – George Bailey is on the verge of ending his (wonderful) life, when Clarence, his guardian angel, jumps in the water first (it wasn’t completely clear how causing George Bailey to jump into the freezing river was the Read More >

[Pearls Ep 148:  Answering atheism Tuesday.] Camel hair suit. Locust tartare with wild honey. Drawing curious throngs out to the desert and then baptizing them. John the Baptist was a true individual. And there was a reason for that – John received the gift of the Holy Spirit while still in the womb, when a Read More >

[Pearls Ep 148:  Bringing Sunday into the week.] We’ve been looking at Advent, and St. John the Baptist’s example of going out into the wilderness – a place of solitude, simplicity and reflection. It’s also a place of very poor cell reception. In fact, it’s best to just leave the soul-sucking-device (SSD) at home. In Read More >

[Pearls Ep 148:  Preparing for Sunday.] This Sunday’s Gospel reading brings us John the Baptist, as “a voice of one crying out in the desert”   (some translations place him in the wilderness). The Church Fathers hone in on John being “a voice” – whereas Christ is the Word.   John calls out.  Jesus responds. In that Read More >

[Pearls Ep 148:  Preparing for Sunday.] It’s better than even money that your Advent spiritual preparation involves limiting your time with your soul-sucking-device (the Mephistophelean marketing gurus call these “smartphones”). You know who knew a lot about that?  St. John the Baptist. Seriously. He knew all about real communication. That’s why he went out to Read More >

[Pearls Ep 147: Answering atheism Tuesday.] Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas. You know who is the greatest Christmas planner of all time? Jesus. He began preparing at the dawn of time (Steve has been known to begin at the dawn of December 24th…). All of creation was ordered to His incarnation. Christ Read More >

[Pearls Ep 147: Bringing Sunday into the week.] In Friday’s email we reminded ourselves that Advent is difficult.  Just as Revelation 12 describes the ancient enemy waiting to devour the Christ Child during birth, he lies in waiting to devour us spiritually. In Revelation 12:4, just prior to that telling of satan waiting to devour Read More >

[Pearls Ep 147: Preparing for Sunday.] We pray you and your family had a blessed Thanksgiving.  May the things we’re thankful for remind us that the same God is also at work in the trials we face – and that in His time and in His way He will transform them into blessings as well. Read More >

This week’s Pearls episode will come out tomorrow with a focus on Advent. But for today, some Thanksgiving reflections… Gratitude and Humility Why do we give thanks for something?  We give thanks because it is something we need and that we cannot provide for ourselves.  Were we completely self-sufficient, we would have no need to Read More >