Out of Poverty and into His Arms

Have you ever faced an imminent crisis or confrontation which fills you with dread? Perhaps you have found yourself on the edge of some event that might change your life entirely. I believe that we all wrangle with such moments in life. The question arises, what do we do when we come to the precipice…

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Transform Our Hearts

Gratia Vobis Ministries, Inc.

We have all heard the familiar Gospel passage exhorting us to persist in prayer: “Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and the door shall be opened.” Yet many of our prayers are not answered in the way we expect. Rather, through prayer we come to align our heart with the…

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Chosen

What does it mean to be chosen, rather than to choose? The remarkable thing about the Christian life is that our faith begins not with our own yes to Christ, but His invitation to us. He takes the initiative, summoning us each to the life of faith and the work of mission. It is then…

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A Grain of Wheat, for the Life of the World

Do you cling to life? I remember a night many years ago in college, when sitting at my desk and lost in thought, I saw my hands before me suddenly aged in appearance. The veins stood out like spiderwebs on my hands, and as I stared at them the reality hit me: I will die…

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Hunger for Him

What do you hunger for? Whom do you hunger for?The recent National Eucharistic Congress marks the culmination of the past three years ofEucharistic Revival in the U.S. If you have attended the event or begun to view some of the talksfrom the Congress, you likely have been set afire with renewed love for our Lord…

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Go First to the Lost Sheep of Israel

Go First to the Lost Sheep of Israel

If you had lived during the time of Jesus, would you have recognized him? How would you have known him to be the Son of God? Indeed, we would have been hard-pressed to understand His true identity, as his own disciples were.  It could be said that the Gospels are first and foremost an answer…

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Pure of Heart, Poor in Spirit

The Beatitudes

Few things attract me more than conversing about the deep questions of life. Years ago, when I began my RCIA journey into faith, I was blessed to experience one such discussion in our opening class, in which we were invited to ponder and reflect upon the Beatitudes of Jesus, one by one. The question at…

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The Holy Name

The Holy name

When I was a child, long before my conversion to faith, I rarely, if ever, uttered the name of Jesus. It was not simply the fact of my Hindu background which restrained me, but a certain sense of the power and mystery enfolded in that name. I regarded the name of Jesus as something forbidden…

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And No One Will Take Your Joy from You

on joy

Today’s Gospel reading echoes with the refrain of joy. Jesus reveals to his disciples the promise of imminent joy, yet it is a joy purchased only through suffering. Walking through Fire Perhaps the most joyful passage I have known in all of literature comes from Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which the poet Dante finally reaches…

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Choosing Light or the Shadows

Christ is Risen, Alleluia! As Christians we are heirs to the extraordinary reality of the Resurrection. We celebrate this miracle not simply on one day but throughout our lives. Jesus of Nazareth, put to death on the Cross, rose bodily from the dead, a miracle so shocking that it transformed the disciples who encountered him.…

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