Freedom is tied in the very identity of God and who we as his children made in his image and likeness. Understanding the real meaning of freedom revealed to us by Christ, will help us respond to the evils of our world and build a more just and virtuous society. As Catholics, our liberty must ultimately point to the participation in the Divine life.
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“Real liberty is the ability to make a gift of oneself.”
Solidarity is the idea that we are one, we are together. It is rooted in empathy for the person or groups who may not have advantages we have. GoFundMe Campaigns are an example of people living out solidarity. It is a way to live out our faith and helps us know we are not alone.
Subsidiarity is the idea we are most effective when we start closest to home and heart. From there we can transform our state and our nation. Colin believes that real subsidiarity starts in the heart with virtue. Subsidiarity is to integrate virtue in our own hearts and to live it out in the spaces closest to us.
These two, solidarity and subsidiarity, are the way we will fight against injustice, hate, and have an abundant life.
Engaging on social media with charity and clarity in 2020 is not easy. Inspired by St.Thomas Aquinas, I offer a few principles to help us respond to issues and conflict on social media in a productive and charitable manner. If we remember the humanity of those we disagree with behind the screen, we will learn to truly love our enemies as Christ calls us to do.
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“ It's not just about winning arguments, it’s about winning hearts and building relationships.”
In our pursuit of holiness, we tend to overlook the little things in life. It’s the small moments in life that can either push us upwards towards heaven or pull us down towards evil.
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“Little things have a great power to move us.”
Colin talks about a time he had an encounter with Christ while listening to beautiful music that brought him to tears.
As he was irresistibly drawn in, he realized that art, music, culture, and beauty can be opportunities for evangelization.
Colin calls this invitation to have an encounter with Christ through beauty an “assault of beauty”. It’s not an assault that takes away from our free will, but one that draws us in.
This week, find a way to extend this invitation to someone else. Listen to some beautiful music with your family or ask a friend to go visit a beautiful church.
When we unite our suffering to Christ and offer it all up to the Father the way Christ does, everything changes. Our joys, work, hearts, and sufferings can all be offered alongside Christ and given back to the Father. When we learn to offer it all up, we grow in holiness and experience healing.
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Give every part of your life back to the Father the way Christ does, it changes everything.
Although the pandemic has shifted many of our plans and disrupted our normal routines, we can still choose to rejoice because we know the Lord is close to us in our suffering. Today, I encourage you to choose joy in the midst of the obstacles we face this year.
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In the midst of our trials and sufferings, we rejoice because we trust that the Lord draws near to us in our darkest moments.
Sainthood is possible no matter the circumstances. Today, I am joined by a very special guest to discuss schools reopening and the gift of the diverse group of saints we have in the Catholic tradition to help us in our walk with Christ.
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We are all capable of becoming saints, no matter where we have been, what we look like, or what we are facing.
Research indicates that talking about faith in the family plays a critical role in our commitment to the faith as we grow up. Today, I encourage you to go deeper with your family by having intentional conversations about God and what he's doing in everyone's life.
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Don’t be afraid to talk to your family about faith, the Holy Spirit can move in powerful ways if you simply give him a chance.
2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. In the midst of the uncertainty and chaos of this year, there are still good lessons we can learn from our experience. Today, I reflect on 5 things that I have learned this year.
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“If we don't confront evil with the power of the Gospel, then we're in big trouble."
What’s going to happen in the fall? Will kids be in school? What will religious education and sacramental prep look like? In this episode, I discuss the importance of remembering our goal of reaching heaven as we plan for uncertain times in the fall.
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Our ultimate goal is to become who God has created us to be and to go to heaven, and this goal cannot be thwarted by a pandemic.
Navigating social media with love is a challenge we all face today. Looking at the lives of the saints and Jesus himself, Colin and Aimee MacIver discuss why cancel culture is incompatible with the Gospel and how to use social media in pursuit of holiness.
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“Our goal is not just to share truth but ultimately to love each other”
Near a spot where Colin takes his son fishing, there is graffiti on the side of a building. There was a new one however, which caught his eye. "Seen everything but Christ."
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_For the world to see Christ, we must to make him visible by our words and actions. _
Racism is present in our nation, and there is tension between races and classes. There is a danger of the center not holding politically. When Walker Percy wrote, "the center did not hold," in Love in the Ruins, he wasn't speaking just politically, but the interior state of the person.
In today's podcast, Colin gives some pointers on where we can find our center.
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The center is only found in Jesus Christ's grace and mercy. Our minds and hearts must be fixed on him. He is the only one who will save us._
Today, Colin shares how the basics of conversation from his son’s perspective, sharing good news and asking good questions, are the basics to evangelization.
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Perhaps part of the reason we experience good things is so we can share them with others._
This week, we pause to meditate on our identity, purpose, and desires.
Identity: We are the children of God. It’s who we are at the center of who we are. Ask God, who am I?
Purpose: If we are the children of God, then our purpose is to love and live as God does. There might sense of purposelessness, so we dive deeper into screen time. If so, then there’s a need for restoring the sense of purpose by doing chores and cultivating your relationships with others.
Desire: What do you really want? What do you seek?
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When we act poorly, it’s often because we’ve forgotten who we essentially are; children of God.
There’s likely going to be two types of people who will need to be reached once the churches reopen. Those who have become used to not going to Mass and won’t come back to church once the doors reopen. Then there’s some who have been doing some soul searching during quarantine.
For the former, we will have to work pretty hard to get them back into the pews because they have found they are just fine without Jesus and church. The latter are more spiritually sensitive than before quarantine. They will be looking for churches, looking for God for clarity, purpose, and hope. They will be right there when the doors open again, hungry and thirsty for the Word. This means there will be new faces to welcome and opportunities to evangelize.
Either way, we need to preach the gospel with such clarity and conviction that it cuts to the heart and brings people back to Jesus.
If the world is a ship, then right now it’s taking in water. We’re pulled apart right now, keeping in touch through virtual means, but we must acknowledge that we cannot maintain a digital existence in perpetuity. This cannot be the new normal.
As a Church, we need to be able to return to the sacraments at some point. It’s wonderful that we’re able to connect online right now, but it’s not something we can continue with forever.
This is not where we ought to be, but it’s where we are. Let’s offer up our suffering, and have hope in being reunited with each other, and with the sacraments.
Colossians 1:24 indicates that Jesus left some things undone, not in himself, but in each of us. St. Paul says, ““I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.”
Another way of saying it is that God invites us to participate in the salvific action of Jesus through our own suffering. Jesus forever transformed the meaning of suffering through his passion. No longer is suffering meaningless pain, but it can be offered up and joined to the work of Christ to intercede for the good of others. This is why we can rejoice in our sufferings.
As we enter into yet another week of quarantine and separation, we can unite our suffering to the cross of Christ.
Check out my talk with Fr. Mike on Baptism and Belonging to the Family of God.
