theROCK

Results filtered by “Living the Gospel”

On the Side of Angels

main image

When I attended my first March for Life in Washington D.C. recently, I was surprised at the number of youth attending the march, including some from St. Dominic, local high schools, and universities. They marched selflessly; with faith, hope, and love, trying to protect the God-given right to life of the unborn.

Sadly, it was just a few days later when media showed the ghoulish behavior of the New York governor and legislators celebrating a law that permits the killing of babies just days or even hours before they were to be born. In Virginia, a bill was narrowly defeated that would have allowed “delivered babies” to be made comfortable while the mother and doctor(s) decided whether to take the life of the newborn child.

To be clear, the Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a “grave immoral action” and that we are all entrusted by God to the noble mission of safeguarding life. The Catechism clearly explains “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”

With the death-toll now surpassing 60 million surgical abortions, we can no longer sit on the sidelines and hope for this culture of death to go away. Do not be afraid. Pray and get active. Join a march or a life-chain, peacefully protest at an abortion center or participate in 40 days-for-life. Vote pro-life and tell your legislators to do the same. Teach your children about the sanctity of life from the womb to the tomb.

As Archbishop Listecki said at the Respect Life Mass, whenever we are serving on behalf of the voiceless and vulnerable, we will always be “on the side of the angels.”

Quo Vadis

main image

Recently I took a trip to a small town in central Wisconsin. I was headed to farm country, a beautiful part of the state filled with enormous hills and valleys. I typed the numbers and street into the Map app on my phone, only to discover that the address did not exist. I knew it was right, I double and triple checked it before I left. But this address simply did not exist in the GPS world. So I put in a nearby city, something to get me close to where I needed to be.

Needless to say, this was not a relaxing trip. The entire time I kept wondering if I was on the right road, heading in the right direction, driving my car to the place I needed to be. 

Quo Vadis. It’s a Latin phrase roughly meaning “where are you going?” What have you programmed into your internal GPS? Do you have a specific destination in mind, or are you traveling someplace nearby? Too often in life we simply move without thinking. We react instead of carefully planning our routes. To live a life of faith means having one clear destination, one detailed map that guides everything we do. It’s the only way we can be guaranteed that we’re on the right road, heading in the right direction, and getting where we need to be.

Ask yourself today: Quo Vadis? Then start programming your own personal GPS.

Posted by Dan Herda

Let Go and Let God

main image

Many of us are familiar with Luke 5:1-11, the story of when Jesus went out into the boat of Simon the fisherman. After teaching the crowds nearer the shore, Jesus tells Simon to go out into the deep and put down the nets into the water. Even though they had been fishing all day without success, they follow His command.

To their surprise, more fish are caught than they can handle! What a humbling experience for these men. They realize that what they have witnessed is nothing short of a miracle and their curiosity and faith lead them to drop everything and follow Jesus.

How often in our daily lives do we push aside advice from someone, thinking that our idea or plan is better than theirs? How often could we be ignoring a call from God for us to look at something in a new light or new perspective, believing we already know everything there is to know.

Too often we are wrapped up in ourselves and our lives and do not notice that God the Father is guiding us and asking us to trust His way of doing things.

Put down your guard, put away your pride, and listen. Listen to God speaking to you and follow where He leads you. Offer up to Him a task or a challenge you are facing, and believe and trust that everything will turn out the way God has planned.

Let go and let God.

12...1011121314151617181920