No Neighbor, I’m Not Carrying Twins

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Pope Francis Blesses Baby in Womb

So what the heck does my ever-expanding belly and a couple rude comments have to do with the Good Samaritan? Here’s the nugget I’ve been chewing on. I’ve three months to go, folks, and I bet plenty more comments about my appearance and weight will still be hurled my way. While my physical posture may stink because of this growing babe in my womb, the posture of my heart doesn’t have to equally stink. True love for God compels us to show charity toward our neighbors, even those who say the darndest of things.

“Why I Love My Wife” St. Valentine’s Day Link-Up Event

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Why I Love My Wife

Announcing our St. Valentine’s Day 2013 “Why I Love My Wife” link-up event. Join me in rejecting a culture of locker-room talk that objectifies and degrades the women we love. Instead, let’s proclaim the Divine Gifts that they are to us. Strengthen your marriage by building up your wife. The gushing begins in just three days.

Forget Not Love: Advice from St. Maximilian Kolbe

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Saint_Maximilian_Kolbe

Saint Maximilian Kolbe often preached, “Don’t ever forget to love.” Kolbe was a red martyr, suffering persecution and death in defense of the faith. We won’t all be called to red martyrdom, but if we are taking our religion seriously, we most likely will experience white martyrdom. Have you been called to love, to place the needs of another before your own? And how far forward have you stepped?

Indivisible: Jay Richards on Personal Holiness and Public Witness

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Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before it's too Late

“We’re commanded to speak the truth in love.“ Congratulations to last week’s giveaway winner Marsha Johnson! Enter to win a your own copy of Indivisible! Simply leave a comment here. Next Wednesday, August 8, we will randomly select this week’s winner. Giveaway sponsored by The Maximus Group. You also can buy Indivisible from Ignatius Press […]

Indivisible: Jay Richards on Morality and Economics

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Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before it's too Late

Distinctions between social and economic issues are artificial. Congratulations to last week’s giveaway winners Jessica Kiesling and Rita Rawson! See details below to enter this week’s Indvisible giveaway. You also can buy Indivisible from Ignatius Press (with Voting Guidelines for Catholics bonus CD). This is the second installment from our interview with Dr. Jay Richards; […]

Reconsidering the Seamless Garment

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You Look Fine

Well-intentioned axiom has out-lived its usefulness, should be retired. We’ve all been there. You’re way behind on laundry so you dig deep into your closet, rummaging through clothing you haven’t worn in years. Amid all the outmoded items you find what appears to be a gem, something you used to wear all the time. Okay, it […]

Holding Back and Hurting Ourselves

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Who are we really hurting?

September 11, 2011: Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Have you ever held a grudge? C’mon, who among us hasn’t? When we have been wronged, our first instinct is usually to get angry. Our second instinct then is to hold onto our anger, because we somehow feel justified in doing so. Forgiveness comes later, much later if […]

Spiritual Sticker Shock

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Sticker Shock

August 28, 2011: Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time The juxtaposition of this week’s readings against last week’s readings is hard to ignore. Last week, Peter was “all in” when Jesus commanded him to build a Church, essentially to marshal a spiritual army of disciples and storm the gates of the sinful world with the power of […]

God’s Plan for Parenthood (Part 2)

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NFP-Trust

In honor of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, please once again welcome contributing author Renee McGuire to The Practicing Catholic. Renee and husband Kerry are fellow parishioners at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in West Des Moines, IA, where they also teach NFP classes. Part 1 of their story appeared yesterday. Pick-up from Part 1. […]