Love for the Lost! Just a few weeks ago, on October 19, 2025, Pope Leo XIV presided over a remarkable canonization. What made the canonization so extraordinary was the fact that the Italian priest, Bartolo Longo, had been heavily involved in Satanism and had even served as a satanic priest. But just as admirable as his conversion was the prayer, faithfulness, and love of his family, who never gave up on him, engaging whoever they thought could help him. One professor took him on and began to meet regularly with him, reminding him that, given the direction he was headed in, he would end up in an insane asylum and finally be damned forever. Bartolo recognized his state and agreed to see a Dominican priest who worked with him and brought him back into the Church.   Bartolo imposed harsh penances on himself to make up for the damage he had done, but nevertheless could not forgive himself. He struggled with despair of being truly forgiven by God. Then he came upon the words of Our …

It is a simple fact that our lives are lived out in the interaction between three realities: God, (including Mary, the angels and saints, the Church Suffering or Purgatory, etc.) ourselves, ourselves (including all of our human relationships) and the evil one (including the many fallen spirits that work with him). Each of these three realities is characterized by a certain spirit. For our purposes, we will consider the word spirit to mean: a particular way of thinking, feeling, or behaving. God, of course, is characterized by the divine spirit; we are characterized by the human spirit, and often that means the fallen human spirit; and of course, the devils are characterized by a demonic spirit. When evaluating an experience or happening, a spiritual diagnosis would examine the kind of spirit or spirits that predominate and whether there’s any evidence of good fruit. We can experience fluctuations or changes in our spirit in response to various inputs.  Sometimes our spirit soars at signs of hope, discovery, or celebration.  Sometimes it is discouraged and doubtful. There …

Hearing the Voice of God People sometimes complain that God doesn’t speak to them, or if he does, they don’t recognize his voice.   We all know stories of people who suddenly hear God speak to them in the midst of extraordinary or dramatic events.   That doesn’t surprise us as much as the idea that God speaks to us all the time.  Yet Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd and says His sheep know His voice.  So, what are we to make of this? It’s an important question to ask because God has fashioned us in such a way that our inner life is truly dependent on hearing His voice.  And He gives us that capacity from the time we are very young, though most of us don’t recognize it.  Generally speaking, the most fundamental way God speaks to us is through our consciences, which is why it is so essential to develop a rightly formed, even sensitive conscience.  We are greatly helped in this by remembering that the law of God is written in our hearts. Both the Old …

God has given us so many gifts, it’s hard not to take many of them for granted.  Yet none of the gifts God gives are superfluous.  They all have a purpose.  It would be an exercise in the likeness of Our Lady, to ponder the Lord’s gifts and to try to align ourselves with their particular purposes.  In some instances, the accountability for the gift is exceptionally high.  Language is one such gift. Jesus tells us that we will be accountable for every word we use.  Right away, that tells us that there is something extraordinary about language and our use of it that must be respected.  With a bit of reflection, it becomes apparent that language in all its forms is meant to serve communion, our communion with God and with others.  Likewise, it serves our own inner healing and integrity so that true communion actually becomes possible for us. Jesus gives such a beautiful example of this in His Resurrection appearances.  The apostles have been separated from the Lord by fear, by violence, …