"Being upfront and honest about one's sinful nature actually helps create a more authentic encounter with God. There are people who believe they are righteous, follow the catechism well enough and abide by the Christian faith, but they don't have the experience of having been saved." ~Pope Francis

"What was the Enlightenment except an exploitation of the disorder sowed by the Protestant Revolution? What was that religious revolution except a misdirected reaction to corruption in the medieval papacy? What was that papal corruption except a pernicious consequence of Papo-caesarism? What was that unbalanced ecclesiology but a short-sighted way to protect the Church against invasion by civil rulers? What was that regal invasion but . . . and so on and on and on—all the way back to Adam’s choice to believe what was nothing less than Satan’s Lie?" ~Dr. Ed Peters

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song." ~Blessed Pope John Paul II

“One, just one, but definitely one of the great benefits of private prayer is that you can’t hide from your motives. In corporate prayer, we can sound like “all that”. We can blow Jesus smoke like nobody’s bizness in a crowd but, get alone with Him, and He won’t let you get away with the fake stuff. Try blowing Jesus smoke in your prayer closet and you’ll cough on it every time. Truth? That penetrating gaze of His hurts, but afterwards, it never fails to heal.” ~Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

Please pray for everyone gathering this weekend in Rockport, Maine for the annual diocesan-wide Catholic Youth Convention. May their friendship with the Lord Jesus be strengthened and grow. And may those in attendance--adults as well as youth--who have not yet made a personal commitment to follow Christ in His Church be lead to do so by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the witness of those around them. 

There ain't no party like a Catholic party,

'cause a Catholic party don't stop!

"We will know God to the extent that we are set free from ourselves." ~Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." ~Jesus Christ to His disciples (Matthew 5:44-48)

“My Catholic faith has inspired me to always continue to grow in holiness, to cultivate virtues, and to serve the most vulnerable and needy. In serving others, I serve Christ. And my faith continues to bring about great joy, peace, solace, comfort, and ultimately, love.” ~Kelsey Conroy

Christ said we could move mountains if we had faith. But He didn't say we wouldn't need a shovel. ~Joyce Vollmer Brown

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?” ~C.S. Lewis

"There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us." ~Richard Sibbes

"Every time the forces of darkness crack open our world, the light rushes in. It's simply a function of grace."

~ Thomas L. McDonald

Click here for a thoughtful reflection regarding the death

of 8 year-old Richard Martin in the Boston Marathon Bombings.

“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien

"Christianity is the only religion whose God bears the scars of evil." ~Os Guinness

"No one sins without making some excuse to himself for sinning. He is obliged to do so: man is not like the brute beasts; he has a divine gift within him which we call reason, and which constrains him to account before its judgment-seat for what he does. He cannot act at random; however he acts, he must act by some kind of rule, on some sort of principle; else he is vexed and dissatisfied with himself.” ~ Cardinal John Henry Newman

"Cast yourself into the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength." ~St. Philip Neri

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” ~The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“If you don't pray often, you won't gain a love for praying. Prayer is work, and therefore it is not very appealing to our natural sensibilities. But the simple rule for prayer is this: Begin praying and your taste for prayer will increase. The more you pray, the more you will acquire the desire for prayer, the energy for prayer, and the sense of purpose in prayer.” ~Leslie Ludy

Give me the Love that leads the way

The Faith that nothing can dismay

The Hope no disappointments tire

The Passion that'll burn like fire

Let me not sink to be a clod

Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God

~Amy Carmichael

"Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known." ~Blaise Pascal

“In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance.” ~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly.” ~R.C. Sproul

Many thanks to all the great folks who joined me at Mount St. Mary's College, Spinkhill, UK for the annual Calix Retreat. I have been richly blessed by your presence these past few days. May Our Lord bless you and keep you until we meet again.

“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.” ~Mother Teresa

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.” ~Oswald Chambers

"If I allow myself to be reached by the grace of the risen Christ, if I let that grace change for the better whatever is not good in me, [to change whatever] might do harm to me and to others, then I allow the victory of Christ to affirm itself in my life, to broaden its beneficial action. This is the power of grace! Without grace we can do nothing – without grace we can do nothing! And with the grace of Baptism and Holy Communion, we can become an instrument of God's mercy – that beautiful mercy of God." ~Pope Francis, April 1, 2013

“To have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in that.”~Saint Teresa of Avila

“To us, Christ is all! If you have a wound to heal, he is the doctor; if you are parched by fever, he is the spring; if you are oppressed by injustice, he is justice; if you are in need of help, he is strength; if you fear death, he is life; if you desire heaven, he is the way; if you are in darkness, he is light…. Taste and see how good is the Lord: blessed is the man who hopes in him!” ~St. Ambrose of Milan