Our Faith and Home

  "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”   Says our Lord but He doesn't mean that this will be the case if you do not go His way in life. The verse in context say, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)  If we choose not to go His way, or live life in a way contrary to Him and His goodness, our life can turn out quite the opposite. Jesus promises that yes we will have rest in Him and this is always true. He promises that His way will not be as burdensome as the world's way. Jesus's yoke is light, oh but the world's is extremely heavy.  There are two ways in which we can go. One is of the world and the other is of Christ! One promises death, destruction, confusion, and heavy burdens. And the other, well you have read the ve

  Mathew 7:1-5 Jesus said to his disciples: "Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye." GUILTY!  Yes, me, I am guilty! I learned a new word.  Vituperative . I was watching an interview, published a year ago, conducted by Matt Fraad of  Pints with Aquinas . He was interviewing the two authors of the book “ Calming the Storm ”; written by Father Gerald Murray and Diane Montagna. Have you read it? (My wife has. It wasn’t readily available on Kindle so I have yet to read it.) It’s an interesting format where

  "Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven." –St. Rose of Lima One of the most difficult tasks we, as Catholic Christians, can undertake is picking up the cross of Jesus and carrying it. Consider the utter and excruciating pain Jesus experienced on His way to Calvary. Remember, he had already been ridiculed, mocked, assailed, beaten, whipped and a crown of thorns slammed on to His head. What human could endure that today? Next, he’s tied (not written in scripture bu a custom of the Romans) to the cross and expected to carry it to His place of death.  In an essay I wrote about Christ’s Passion (not yet published), I imagined His courage in this manner: The cross is heavy. It digs into His clavicle. Can the pain get any more excruciating? The road is made of stones. With every step, the bottom of the cross will bump, bump, bump. With every single bump the cross will dig deeper into his shoulder. All He asks of us, by carrying our crosses, is