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The Eucharist: Understanding Through Simple Stories My old pastor gave a homily in which he talked about preparing a girl for First Communion. Her parents had been wondering if she was ready yet, so Father asked her to explain her understanding of the Eucharist. She pointed to the large crucifix in the back of church and said, “That looks like Jesus, but isn’t. The Eucharist doesn’t look like Jesus, but is.” It’s hard to imagine a better or more succinct way o …

People living in deep sin are not always the ones who are most in need of our help, but rather the people who think they’re doing well, when in actuality the opposite is true. Before my conversion to Catholicism, I was that person—outwardly functioning but spiritually sick. I considered myself to be a “good person.” I opened doors for strangers, volunteered, gave blood, recycled bottles and cans, and limited my consumption of plastic goods. I once drove all over town in …

Earlier in my priesthood, I pastorally ministered to a man who had cared for his adult son during his son’s battle with cancer. As I came to know the man, he shared with me the account of his son’s life and holy death. When the son was first diagnosed with cancer, no one realized how serious it was. As the medical team did more tests, it became clear that the cancer was terminal, and that the young man’s physical life was nearing its end. In response to this news, the father t …

When we speak about reason, we mean uses of the human mind to seek and to understand the truth. We can use our reason in academic disciplines such as psychology, mathematics, and history. Reason is also exercised in producing various technologies and in living life wisely. Two uses of human reason are especially important when considering the relationship between faith and reason. One is found in science, in which people use the method of empirical verification to determine whether or not some …

Pope Leo X Condemns Luther’s Teachings In Exsurge Domine, the bull in which Pope Leo X formally condemns Martin Luther’s heretical teachings, the pope refers to Luther as “the wild boar from the forest” who seeks to destroy the vineyard, “an image of the triumphant Church” entrusted to Peter. The comparison of Luther to a wild boar is appropriate for two reasons: (1) wild boars are aggressive, short-tempered, and easily provoked, and they will not hesitate to attack h …