Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament many Catholics are unfamiliar with. Who should be anointed? Why? When? How is the sacrament administered? What practical steps can we take to prepare for it?
Lust is a brutal sin to combat. At times, the struggle against it can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, there are many practical steps we can take to overcome it. Here are six suggestions for everyone regardless of their state of life.
Sometimes, the struggle against sin, temptation, and human weakness seems overwhelming. At such times, looking to the past can be a source of hope.
Do you go to Confession regularly and struggle with discerning what to confess? Mortal sins must always be confessed in kind and number, but what about venial sins? How much detail is it appropriate to give? How can we be clear and accurate, but also brief? How can we make a more devout confession without being scrupulous?
Many people have had their life touched by the issue of suicide. I, personally, have grappled with suicidal thoughts and witnessed the consequences of someone committing suicide. Amidst all the sorrow caused by this evil, we might ask:
What does the Catholic Church teach about suicide? Why? And what can you and I do?
In the midst of all of the solemnities the Church celebrates around the month of June, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart gets overlooked. Why does the Church ascribe so much importance to an internal organ of Our Lord? Isn’t that kind of strange?
Abortion is one of the most heated topics of discussion in our country. Anytime abortion comes to the fore in current events, it generates a communications firestorm. As Catholics, we have a responsibility to set the example in how we talk about abortion as well as when and where we talk about it.
Pride is the summit of self-love and the greatest of the seven deadly sins. Every sin contains a germ of pride. Besides, sins directly springing from pride come in a multitude of forms. Each of us is inclined to some of them. It is necessary to…
Greed is an excessive love of worldly goods that leads to an unrestricted desire to acquire material things. We tend to associate it with money, but it can also be manifested in a love of clothes, jewelry, frivolous gadgets, etc. Greed is often a subtle vice, one we easily excuse.
The term “wrath” gets used routinely in everyday language. People like to use it to describe unchecked fury. Books and movies have glorified it, in many cases, to the point where wrath is seen as a sort of noble pursuit of justice. Because of this…
Envy is a sin alive and well in our society. Its venom courses through social media and news programs, school and work environments, and even into our churches and homes. Despite this, I’ve heard little mention of this sin. What is it exactly? How does it differ from jealousy? And what makes it so dangerous?
“The sin which causes most souls to go to Hell are sins of the flesh.” That awful sentence was by Our Lady of Fatima. In a world where sensuality and the appeal to sex are omnipresent, that sentence chills us to the bone.
When we think of gluttony, we probably picture somebody stuffing themselves to excess or guzzling down a huge bottle of liquor. But the sin of gluttony encompasses more than overeating or overdrinking. Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas describe four other ways in which we can commit this sin.
Sloth can be a difficult sin to identify. The other capital sins are “active” sins: we consciously choose to do something evil. Sloth is a sin of omission: we fail to do something good. It is easy to dismiss because we’re not actively doing any harm—or so we think.
The account of David committing adultery with Bathsheba opens thus: “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”
Take note of that last bit, “but David remained in Jerusalem.” That’s where the trouble begins.