Joseph Nolla, SJ

Why have all the Popes since Pius X and so many saints throughout history urged the faithful to frequent Communion?

Because it’s impossible to the desire the Eucharist more than Jesus desires the Eucharist for you. Nobody wants you to receive the Eucharist more than Jesus does.

“You should *want* to go to Mass! You should feel devout when you go to Mass!”

Honestly, you probably can’t help how you feel. If you chose to go to Mass even though you weren’t “feeling it”, that still means something. That choice still has real value.

How did my family help me come back to Catholicism? Praying for me. Loving me. Letting me make my own decisions. And committing themselves to living their own lives with integrity.

In other words, their steadfast faith, hope, and love signaled God’s faithfulness, desire to be with me, and love.

On All Souls Day, think about your deceased loved ones. Since that first joyful embrace of God in Heaven, they have been praying for you, that you may also enjoy that embrace - because they love you now more than ever.

As I understand, this is a more symbolic prophetic passage. They are literary personifications of death, but not persons (like angels, demons, humans, etc.). I understand this to be about the end of the curse of death.

I hear you. I didn’t think you were arguing it. I was just saying. I’m sorry if it sounded like I was arguing, that wasn’t my intention.

And they die.

One of the great things about Christianity, we haven’t deified death, turning it into a cosmic power. We’re not a religion of death even though we have the Crucifixion. We’re the religion of death’s dying, the religion of the Resurrection - and that gives us hope.

God the Father delighted so much in the Son that he wanted brothers & sisters for the Son, so they could delight in him too.

The Son delighted so much in the Father that he wanted sons & daughters for the Father, so they could delight in him too.

That’s why we exist, because joy must be shared.

When I was coming back to Catholicism after having fallen away, the Church’s veneration of Mary used to bother me.

What changed for me? After praying over all sorts of problems I had, I felt her lovingly say “You have to understand, Jesus was never mine - I was always his.”

No problems after that.

I would have talked about Caesar’s image being on the coin, but God’s image being on us.

We cannot properly love God if we hate the worst sinner.

Seriously. The *worst* sinner. Because God loved that sinner enough to work their redemption.

For me, the biggest problem with the reply is the implication that you don’t oppose the violence of all those people mentioned. I’ve only seen you condemn violence.

If we can’t envision the Holy Trinity celebrating the war in Gaza, then neither should we.

We need fewer cheerleaders and more mourners.

If you’re inclined to doubt your own value, remember:

God didn’t create us because he needed us. He created us because he *wanted* us.

In other words, you are worth creating.

And that’s a perfectly honest and valid prayer

Total transparency with God.

If you don’t know what to say, you can tell him that.
If you want to yell because of what’s happening in your life, he can handle it.
If you want to cry for love of him, why would that bother him?
If you just want to sit quietly, that’s fine too.

I’m a big fan of re-reads in general, and the Bible is hands-down the best re-read. We truly can’t exhaust the grace and riches of God.

After we recognize that we’ve sinned, the devil and God each ask us a question.

The devil’s question: “What have you done? You’re horrible!”

God’s question: “What are we going to do now?”

God encourages us to learn and grow, not wallow and despair.