HOLY SILENCE

Each week I send a short reflection to help you deepen your relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you have a question or a prayer request, please reach out here . Read : "By the Holy Spirit all creation is renewed and thus returns to its first state" (Matins, Antiphon 2, 7 Dec 25). Ponder : How much do you reflect on the past and present? Do you wish things were different? Does that make you feel regret? How often? Daily? Weekly? Think about it. If you are like most people, y

As we begin the Nativity Fast, we are reminded to avail ourselves of the sacrament of confession. Why? While all the Sacraments, especially Eucharist, draw us back to the Lord, Confession specifically roots out the small, simple, insidious thoughts, words, and deeds that lead us down a path of distraction, bad choices, and long-lived maladies that cause us long term, if not eternal, suffering. So, let us together, look forward to the coming of our Lord who wills that each of

Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. Thank you for loving, guiding, and inspiring my grandmother, Concetta. A photograph of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.

Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. Thank you for your example of humility in the face of great difficulty. An icon depicting St. Nektarios of Pentapolis.

Today, we are reminded that it is not enough to follow all the prudential rules of the church (e.g. fasting). Rather, it is vital to train the entirety of the human person - body, mind, soul, and spirit - to focus entirely on God who creates, redeems, and sanctifies. Thus, it is incumbent upon each of us to follow the eternal Logos, Christ, the Word made flesh, who leads us to salvation. And to listen, to obey, and to be forever changed by the Holy Spirit who leads us into sa

Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of contemplative prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Mary, my dear mother in heaven, I am deeply, deeply grateful for your protection and eternally humbled by my priesthood. Please keep me close and give me strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. An icon representing the Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos.

The Lord exhorts us to forgive others without ignoring the reality of systemic abuse in our lives. He invites us to share in His eternal...

Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. Portrait of Nilus (+1005), Sanctuary of San Nicodemo in Mammola.

Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. An illumination from Hildegard's Scivias (1151) showing her receiving a vision and dictating to her teacher Volmar. She died in 1179.

When we hear of the story of the paralytic, we are reminded that the human body can betray us physically, psychologically, and...