Friday, January 14, 20220554By Father Jacob Dankasa
Special to The Texas Catholic
In our lives there may have been times when we made a wrong decision, took a regrettable action, made the wrong choice, carried out an act in error, or made promises we were unable to fulfill. Those are moments that we may look back on and wish we didn’t have things like that in...
Saturday, December 18, 20210344One of the great traditions of Christianity was initiated in 1223 A.D. by the good saint, Francis of Assisi. He had been distressed by the religious indifference of his day. Christ had become a cold and foreign symbol to many of his countrymen.
Friday, December 17, 20210283In my last column I reflected on how we can live out our desert experience every day. I presented John the Baptist as a model for our own type of spiritual desert. He invited the people to the desert to have an encounter with God, to change their lives, to repent of their sins, and to abandon themselves to God (Mk. 1:1-11). This was an...
Wednesday, July 21, 20210402Last month, while celebrating the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, I was reminded about the roles that these two Apostles played in the early Christian Church. Peter had listened to the personal teaching of Jesus and also he had been appointed to be the Rock on which the Church was to be built.
Wednesday, July 21, 202101047Few religious orders can match the Carmelites’ All-Star lineup for sanctity of life and brilliance of theological writings: John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Elizabeth of the Trinity are the heaviest hitters in this illustrious branch of contemplatives. Equal to those great figures, in my opinion, is the...
Thursday, April 15, 20210464I remember growing up and learning catechism using the question-and-answer format of the simple catechism of the Catholic Church, which was mainly memorization. I still remember very well many of the questions and answers because they have stayed in my head.
Friday, March 19, 20210387When we are baptized we make some promises which are known as Baptismal Promises. We promise to reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises. And every year at Easter we renew these baptismal promises. (If we are baptized as infants, our parents make those promises on our behalf during our baptism.) As we grow to adulthood...
Friday, November 27, 20200221As we look for something to celebrate during this time of Thanksgiving and it is difficult to find a clear pathway in the midst of stress and distress, and violence and a general bankruptcy of jobs, and of freedom to roam, and of friends to mingle with, and of sports extravaganzas to attend, what will give us hope?
Saturday, November 14, 20200598I recently read a great book about Catholicism and science, “Particles of Faith” by Stacy A. Trasancos. It seems suited for anyone interested in the topic, and especially for undergraduates and precocious high-school students, or science-minded Catholics looking for excitement as they nourish their faith in a secular culture....
Friday, November 13, 20200504As part of our spiritual exercises, priests are expected to do an annual retreat, which we usually do as a group. But this year I decided to go on a solo, private and silent five-day retreat in late October somewhere in the hills of Colorado — a retreat with no moderator, no scheduled conferences, no presentations — just me and...
