Fr. Christian Mathis | November 9, 2011
A sermon of St Caesarius of Arles Baptism makes every one of us into a temple of God. My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing. We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God. Nevertheless, Christians rightly commemorate this feast of the church, [...]
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Tags: Baptism, holiness, purity, sanctuary, St. Caesarius of Arles, temple
Fr. Christian Mathis | September 3, 2011
It’s time again for Elizabeth Esther’s Saturday Evening Blog Post. Each month Elizabeth invites fellow bloggers to share their favorite post of the month and gives us the opportunity to meet new bloggers. This edition of the post includes the months of both July and August since Elizabeth spent much of July in Bolivia. The [...]
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Tags: arrogance, Assumption, Captain James T. Kirk, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholicism, chauvinism, division, Dormition, Ecumenism, Elizabeth Esther, holiness, holy days of awesome, holy days of non-obligation, holy days of obligation, humility, Jack Chick, love, proselytism, Protestantism, Saturday Evening Blog Post, Theotokos, unity
Fr. Christian Mathis | August 27, 2011
But by reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will. They live in the world, that is, they are engaged in each and every work and business of the earth and in the ordinary circumstances [...]
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Tags: holiness, Kingdom of God, laity, Lumen Gentium, ordinary, Second Vatican Council, virtue, vocation, witness
Fr. Christian Mathis | August 16, 2011
My most recent post on holy days of non-obligation elicited this response from a friend of a friend, They should stop calling them holy days of obligation then. The very word has the most negative connotations. Maybe “holy days of awesome”? Another friend had this response, Your last point is so essential, and I am [...]
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Tags: Assumption, Captain James T. Kirk, Dormition, holiness, holy days of awesome, holy days of non-obligation, holy days of obligation, love, Theotokos
Fr. Christian Mathis | July 27, 2010
One of the things I have noticed in the process of writing icons by way of egg tempera is that continually throughout the process there are moments when I look down at what I have completed and say to myself, “That looks great already. Maybe I should just stop here.” Who wouldn’t be tempted to [...]
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Tags: failure, faith, holiness, iconography, mistakes, risk, St. John the Baptist, temptation
Fr. Christian Mathis | May 13, 2010
Today’s work on our icons reminded me of an important aspect of the Christian life, that being we are always seeking greater perfection in the Christian life and the journey towards perfection never ends. One of my professors in the seminary, Fr. Bob Barron, once told me that we will never cease growing (even in [...]
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Tags: Fr. Bob Barron, holiness, iconography, light, perfection, prayer, struggles, Theotokos, work
Fr. Christian Mathis | April 23, 2010
This post is not a plea for pity. It is not written seeking praise. It is simply meant to be a snapshot in the life of an average Roman Catholic priest. It is 2:02 am and I am just getting back to the rectory. Earlier I received a call from a man whose wife is [...]
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Tags: anointing, Catholicism, child sexual abuse, holiness, hospital, media, prayer, priesthood, service, sin, weakness