Tag: God

On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Lent is a time to remember that God and Heaven should be our top priorities

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

The readings for the first Sunday of Lent give all of us a general principle for evaluating our own lives and determining areas for growth during the holy Lenten season.

The First Reading reminds us of Satan’s successful deception of Adam and Eve, convincing them that pride, that is, disobedience of God, will enable them to be like God.

In fact, Adam and Eve are left in the Garden for the first time experiencing shame as they learn the hard way that the wages of sin never amounts to being like God, but rather the wages of sin is death.

God and Heaven are top priority

The Second Reading makes clear that disobedience and death really are the very same choice.

Disobedience and that assertion that “I know better than God!” leads me to place God and Heaven at a lower priority in my own life. Once this happens, it becomes progressively easier to make my goal something less-than-God, something less-than-Heaven.

But God and Heaven alone are the fullness of life, and ultimately to choose what is less-than-God or -Heaven as my top priority is to choose death.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Lent is a time to remember that God and Heaven should be our top priorities

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

The readings for the first Sunday of Lent give all of us a general principle for evaluating our own lives and determining areas for growth during the holy Lenten season.

The First Reading reminds us of Satan’s successful deception of Adam and Eve, convincing them that pride, that is, disobedience of God, will enable them to be like God.

In fact, Adam and Eve are left in the Garden for the first time experiencing shame as they learn the hard way that the wages of sin never amounts to being like God, but rather the wages of sin is death.

God and Heaven are top priority

The Second Reading makes clear that disobedience and death really are the very same choice.

Disobedience and that assertion that “I know better than God!” leads me to place God and Heaven at a lower priority in my own life. Once this happens, it becomes progressively easier to make my goal something less-than-God, something less-than-Heaven.

But God and Heaven alone are the fullness of life, and ultimately to choose what is less-than-God or -Heaven as my top priority is to choose death.

Read More
On
Bishop Robert Barron

‘Arrival’ and understanding God’s speech

Like E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Starman, Independence Day, and a host of similar films over the past 30 years, Arrival explores the theme of an alien visitation to earth.

In this iteration, Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams) is a linguistic expert, who is called upon by the U.S. military to facilitate conversation with visitors from another world, whose space-crafts have landed (actually not quite landed, for they hover a few feet off the ground) at a number of locations around the globe.

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On
Julianne Nornberg

Giving the gift of sacrifice this Christmas

Everyday Faith column by Julianne Nornberg

“I can’t do it!” my four-year-old son cries out in frustration as he suddenly scrunches up his artwork to his chest.

His masterpiece, a brightly colored partially crayoned alphabet, is now a ball of crumpled paper, mashed beyond redemption.

“It’s okay,” I say, trying to calm his tears. “I can help you.”

Slowly I coax the ruined masterpiece from my son’s angry fingers, smooth the jagged creases, place my hand over his to guide the creation of the letters he’d wanted to be just so.

“You are still learning,” I tell him. “It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

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On
Julianne Nornberg

Clinging to our Father with childlike abandon

Everyday Faith column by Julianne Nornberg

My six-year-old daughter clutched her daddy’s hand as they walked side by side through the woods one day.

Suddenly, a black and yellow snake slithered across their path, startling my daughter. She gasped in fear and squeezed her daddy’s hand.

Her daddy, my husband, patted her hand gently and said, “Don’t worry. Garter snakes won’t bite you. They’re just looking for crickets to eat.”

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On
Rick McKellar

We need to spend more time with God

To the editor:

There were many good insights in the article by Bishop Robert Barron (on a Pew Study about why young people are leaving the active practice of Christianity) which we can easily recognize.

What is often left out for consideration in discussion of this issue is that in the modern faith formation process, at least in my limited experience of 50 years, there is a lack of engagement of many people, including myself, to a life devoted to dynamic personal devotional intercession and communal intercession happening outside the confines of a very structured and impersonal speedy approach by some to the celebration of the Mass and community involvement within the parish outside of Mass.

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On
Julianne Nornberg

Sharing, teaching God’s love with children

Everyday Faith column by Julianne Nornberg

The face of my four-year-old scrunched up as he sounded out a word in a book. “Gah,” he said, successfully figuring out the sound of the letter “G.”

He considered the next letter, “O,” thought a moment, then said, “Ahh.”

Finally he got to the last letter, “D,” and put the sounds together. “Gah-ahh-dd,” he said slowly, enunciating each letter individually, his eyebrows knit in concentration.

“Gahd.”

Suddenly, his eyes flew open, his eyebrows shot up, and the light of understanding emanated from his joyous grin as he shouted out, “God! It says God!”

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On
Bishop Robert Barron

The cross of Jesus: God’s awful work of love

I would like to continue reflecting on Fleming Rutledge’s extraordinary book The Crucifixion, which I consider one of the most insightful theological books of the decade.

In a previous article, I drew attention to Rutledge’s bracing insistence on the awfulness and shame of the crucifixion. In the ancient world, there was no punishment more painful, terrifying, and de-humanizing than the cross.

It is not simply that Jesus died or even that he was put to death by corrupt people; it was that he endured the death reserved only for the lowest and most despised.

In the light of the resurrection, the first Christians looked back on this horrific event and saw in it something commensurate with the weight of sin. Somehow, on that instrument of torture and humiliation, the Son of God was addressing what could not be adequately addressed in any other way; he was paying the requisite price.

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On
Julianne Nornberg

Maintaining a spiritual life during summer

Everyday Faith column by Julianne Nornberg

I sat down in the midst of my children today and did Morning Prayer aloud.

Never mind that it was already 10:30 a.m. Never mind that the two little ones were giggling and grabbing markers from each other at the kitchen table.

Never mind that the older ones still needed to empty the dishwasher and take out the recycling and I still needed to start the laundry.

Never mind that we needed to pack a lunch for our day of running errands and playing at the park.

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