Obviously, the amounts could be scaled for a smaller amount, but I chose a large number to be able to talk about a greater variety of possibilities and more importantly to illustrate the principle of subsidiarity when it comes to giving.

If you have ever played the lottery or thought about what it might be like to be very wealthy, I am sure you have played this game before. But the purpose of this essay is to illustrate how one might go about giving away a great fortune from a Catholic point of view.

For the fun of it, let’s pretend that person is you. You just inherited $500 million after taxes. What should you do with all that money?

1. Family – The first thing to consider is your family because they are your primary responsibility.

a. How much do you think you and your wife could possibly need to be able to maintain a virtuous Christian lifestyle and take care of any health needs between now and your deaths? Do not underestimate this number as the requirements and duties of managing a half billion dollars are rather extensive.

b. How many children and grandchildren do you have? Are they all practicing the Catholic faith? How much money would you like to leave them when you die?

c. How much could your family members use for things like, eliminating their student loan debts or mortgages, and providing the best possible Catholic education and professional education you could possibly give them—meaning those that are not yet in a viably career or already married or in religious life?

d. Are there any children or grandchildren that you would like to provide income for so they can pursue the arts or serve the Church in a way that they are well disposed to, without having to worry about generating a yearly income? In other words, are there any other members of your family that you would like to provide a temporary or permanent annual income for, at this time or in the future?

Let’s say the number is $50 million for personal household, and family members. That might sound like a lot, but keep in mind that 90% of this will remain invested. The recommended income to take from your investments for living expenses is 4%-5% annually, so the annual income on $50 million would be no more than $2.5 million the first year. If you have a large family, that might not be enough for everything you are looking to do for your family this years, but let’s say it is, for now.

With the remaining $450 million, maybe you want to spend it down before you die, meaning you do not want to set up a perpetual foundation to continue giving the money away after you die. That would be wise. It is very difficult to rule over your money from the grave, so let’s say you invest it, but withdraw 10%-20% a year for charitable giving. You had better start with 10% for now, because giving away $45 million a year is harder than it sounds, if you want to do it responsibly.

First, even though you would get a bigger tax break by putting the lump $450 million under the tax umbrella of a family foundation and/or a donor advised fund (DAF), I do not recommend locking it all up like that. There are some charitable gifts, and political gifts, that cannot be given from a foundation because of the regulations.

I assume you already have good lawyers, but you will likely need a few more to help you plan your philanthropy. I recommend finding Catholic lawyers who can support you in putting family and Church first.

Subsidiarity in Giving

It is important to practice subsidiarity in our giving because giving is an act of love, an act of charity, a work of mercy. We have a moral obligation to be the most generous with our neighbor. Loving your neighbor (literary, the one who is neigh/close) means loving those who are closest to us: wife, children, family, pastor, spiritual father, godchildren, parishioners, local communities, local schools, local initiatives, etc.

It is a precept of the Church that we provide for the needs of the Church. Following the principle of subsidiary, this means you should begin with your parish and your local monastery.

2. Your Parish- What are the needs of your parish?

a. Is the pastor’s salary big enough to ensure he is able to devote his life to the sacraments—daily mass, frequent confessions, visits to the sick, etc.— and to the proper administration of the parish?

b. Does your parish have a large enough staff to do what the pastor would like to do? Do you have a director of sacred music, for example, or does your pastor need a secretary or a housekeeper?

c. Does your parish have a school? If not, consider participating in the founding of a school? What would make it better? Do you have enough parishioners to justify a high school or a vocational school?

d. How strong is the catechetical program? How could it be stronger?

e. What other apostolates does your parish have or do you wish it had? Is there an outreach to the poor?

f. Do you need a new church or are the buildings in need of renovation? How could you help make the buildings more beautiful? Is it time to tear down that church built in the 1970s and replace it with something heavenly?

g. You get the point.

3. Local monastery—The next thing to consider is whether or not you have a local monastery or religious community that you would like to support, and if not, I recommend working on bringing a community into your locale. The work of prayer and fasting is vital for the health of the Church. It is also traditional to have a confessor/spiritual director who is a priest monk. The Church is in desperate need of a monastic revival.

4. Local Catholic schools—Supporting the work of Catholic education is probably the most important thing to support after the parish and your local monastery. We, as a Church, should also be working to restore religious communities for the work of education.

5. Health clinic—One of the works of charity is to care for the sick. Many religious communities and Catholic organizations over the centuries have dedicated their lives to providing medical care for the sick. Providing medical care for the poor is not the responsibility of the state but of the Church.

6. Poverty relief—Your local city likely has one or more homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation centers, soup kitchens, thrift stores, etc. These are best when run by holy men and women who have a unique vocation to be face to face with the poor. Support those who are doing this in accordance with the Gospel.

7. Local politics—It is sometimes possible to advance the common good of your community through political means. If this is something you are competent at discerning, consider giving something to local political initiatives.

What if I live in a small community?

Let’s say you think you can responsibly give away $20 million a year to your local community, including your parish, etc. as enumerated above, but more than that would be irresponsible given the size of your community or the competence of the people running the organizations.

You have another $25 million to give away each year. What do you do with this remainder?

Once you have taken care of your family and your local community, you can start to think about the Church and people outside of your community.

8. Diocese/Eparchy—It is good to support your bishop, especially if he is a good bishop and has worthy projects in mind. The chancery office is often understaffed and underpaid; you could look into it. Supporting seminarians for your diocese is also very important.

9. Religious communities and monasteries—If you have a favorite order or community that you would like to support on a national or global scale, by all means do it!

10. Catholic Higher Education—Consider committing to a number of annual student scholarships or sponsoring a faculty chair at your favorite Catholic College. Or perhaps the campus has a building project. If you are looking to give a few large gifts without too much “looking under the hood,” this might be your best bet. Catholic higher education is the future of the Church, and the Newman guide has created a great incentive for Catholic Colleges in America to be faithful to the Magisterium.

11. Hospitals—Catholic Hospitals are also candidates for large gifts.

12. Politics—Again, if you think you can make a difference for the common good politically by supporting a particular effort, this could be a giving category, but notice I put it last, because in the order of subsidiarity, it comes last, after supporting your family and the Church.

Note to the reader: The point of this essay was to help think through the subsidiarity of giving. Of course, 99.9% of my readers will never have $500 million (unless we have hyperinflation without a currency restructuring), but I hope you can better see what giving looks like at scale, so that you can better order your own giving priorities.

Many of us may never be able to give money to those outside our family beyond little gifts to our parish, our local monastery, a friend in need, or the local center, and that is okay. In fact, if you can see this, and you can be okay with it, you can be at peace knowing you are fulfilling the Gospel mandate.

God bless your generosity!

Share

Subscribe now

Today’s readings remind us that God has a perfect plan for your life. He created you. Only He can truly nourish you and care for your every need—body and soul. And in return, we owe Him our whole life—our gratitude, our trust, our fidelity, and our cooperation with His divine plan. But the reality is, many people today are living outside of that plan. They are living outside the state of grace. The world tells you to follow your feelings, chase your desires, and create your own truth. But Scripture calls us back—to once again make Christ the sole center of our life.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, expresses frustration. The community is divided. Some are saying, “I follow Paul,” others, “I follow Apollos,” or “Cephas,” or even, “I follow Christ.” In other words, they’ve started to confuse the messengers with the message of the Gospel. We see the same thing today. Some people rally around Catholic personalities or influencers—this writer, that apparition, this pope, that devotion. But the question is not, “Whose camp are you in?” The only question that matters is: Are you following Christ in the Church? As St. Paul says elsewhere, “Imitate me in so far as I imitate Christ.”

The Gospel brings this into focus through the feeding of the five thousand. The context is important: John the Baptist has just been beheaded. The Fathers explain that Jesus retreats to the wilderness not out of fear, but to avoid provoking a second murder before His appointed hour. His Pascha had not yet come. There was still work to do—healing, teaching, and preparing His disciples. When the crowd follows Him, Jesus has compassion. He heals their bodies, and—as St. Hilary teaches—He also heals their obstructed minds and unbelieving hearts, preparing them to receive the truth. Then He feeds them with bread and fish. And the way St. Matthew describes this miracle is fitting. Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives—the same language used at the Last Supper and in the Divine Liturgy.

And then, He tells the Apostles, “You give them something to eat.” And in so doing, He is planting the seed of their future ministry. They don’t understand it yet. They prefer to send the crowd away. But Christ is forming them—preparing them to feed His Church with the Word of God and the Bread of Heaven. The five thousand represent the members of the Church who respond to the invitation and follow Christ into the wilderness to be fed by Him. As He says elsewhere: “I am the bread of life… unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you.” He created us. He sustains us. He prepares a table for us—even in the wilderness.

The question is, am I following the Father’s plan for my life—or am I following my own program? Christ is inviting us into eternal communion with Himself—a communion that requires daily surrender, daily cooperation. This communion of love is fullness of life!

It is fitting that this Gospel passage ends with Jesus sending away the crowds. Those who had tasted the goodness of the Lord did not want to leave—and understandably so. But Christ teaches us that it is good both to be together—and to be alone. He models the importance of retreating into silence, to be with the Father. We encounter Jesus in the Liturgy, in Agape, and in community. But we also encounter Him in the interior stillness of the heart. It is there—in silence and solitude—that we learn to invite God into every hour, every task, every joy, and every sorrow. He comes in sacrament and sacramental. In Divine Liturgy and in daily duty. That is how He nourishes and sustains us: when we allow Him to reign perpetually in our hearts—as Father provider, loving Savior, and benevolent King. Amen.

Today the Church honors the Holy Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils—those courageous bishops, theologians, and confessors who preserved the true faith of the Apostles in the face of heresy and division. They stood firm in times of enormous pressure, choosing exile, slander, imprisonment, and even death rather than compromise the truth about who God is and how He saves us by transforming our fallen nature through the Sacramental Mysteries of the Church.

The Fathers understood that if we lose sight of the truth of Christ and the Holy Trinity, we lose our hope of salvation.

Let me briefly recap the six Ecumenical Councils and the saints who defended orthodoxy during this period:

1. At Nicaea in 325, St. Athanasius the Great, though only a deacon, was the lead voice against the heresy of Arianism, which claimed that Christ was a creature, not God. The Council declared that the Son is homoousias—meaning of the same essence as the Father—true God from true God.

2. At Constantinople in 381, St. Gregory the Theologian defended the full divinity of the Holy Spirit against the Macedonians. The Council reaffirmed the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal and co-eternal.

3. At Ephesus in 431, St. Cyril of Alexandria battled Nestorianism, which denied that Mary is the Mother of God. The Church solemnly taught that Christ is one divine Person with two natures, and that Mary is rightly called Theotokos, the God-bearer.

4. At Chalcedon in 451, Pope St. Leo the Great’s Tome was read, which stated that Christ is one Person in two natures, fully God and fully man. This refuted the claim that Christ had only one (divine) nature.

5. At Constantinople in 553, the Church condemned lingering Nestorian writings and reaffirmed the unity of Christ’s Person.

6. Finally, in the 7^th century, St. Maximus the Confessor was mutilated and exiled, and Pope St. Martin I was arrested and died in exile defending the truth that Christ has, not one will, but two wills—human and divine—the doctrine upheld at Constantinople in 681.

Why were they willing to suffer like this? Because Christ’s true nature had to be upheld. As St. Gregory of Nazianzus proclaimed: what Christ has not assumed cannot be redeemed. Only if Christ is truly God and truly man can we be united to God through Him and merit the hope of salvation.

Today’s epistle from Hebrews 13 calls us to “remember your leaders… imitate their faith… for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” The Fathers are those leaders. Their holy lives bore witness to the unchanging Christ they preached. The passage ends with reference to the Eucharistic altar and the sacrifice of praise—the very life of the Church that the Councils preserved.

In the Gospel of John 17, we hear Christ’s high priestly prayer: “Holy Father, keep them in your name… that they may be one, even as we are one.” This prayer was fulfilled through the Church’s response to heresy. The unity Christ prayed for is not mere sentiment, but unity in truth and love, which the Fathers safeguarded through the Councils.

And yet today, many of the same heresies have returned, under the umbrella heresy of Modernism. Relativism, for example, says all religions are equal—which is a denial of Christ’s divinity. New Age spirituality denies Christ’s humanity, reducing Him to a cosmic spiritual force. Moralistic Deism denies the Holy Spirit’s power, replacing divine grace with therapeutic sentimentality.

The Holy Fathers remind us that doctrine is not a dead letter, it is the light that guides our path, the truth that sanctifies our worship, and the armor of our salvation. At every Divine Liturgy, as we stand before the holy doors and recite together the Creed, I want you to imagine the holy angels clothing you with the armor of God for spiritual combat. Truth is our armor in the unseen battle.

May we, like the Council Fathers, love the truth more than comfort, and Christ more than the approval of the world.

Through their prayers, may we remain faithful to the One who is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life. Amen.

Share

In our age of increasing state regulation and cultural confusion, it is necessary to reaffirm the divinely appointed order of education and the proper roles of the family, the Church, and the state. According to natural law, Sacred Scripture, and the perennial wisdom of the Church, parents are the primary educators of their children. Both the Church and the state have roles to play in the education of the young, but these roles are supplemental and never usurp the primacy of the family.

Education, rightly understood, is not merely about academic achievement or professional advancement. It is the formation of the whole person: emotionally, intellectually, physically, and most importantly, spiritually. Education is ordered to man's final end, which is union with God. As St. Thomas Aquinas affirms, the perfection of man consists in the acquisition of virtue and the knowledge of divine things. Thus, any system of education that neglects moral and spiritual formation is incomplete and ultimately harmful.

The family is the first school of virtue. St. John Chrysostom urged Christian parents to take up this task seriously: "You should rear them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." (Homily on Ephesians 6:4) The Church Fathers recognized that it is in the home where the child first learns love, justice, obedience, prayer, and sacrifice. St. Augustine taught that the family was the building block of the "city of God," and the first place where the soul is formed for eternal life.

St. Thomas Aquinas echoes this teaching. In the Summa Theologiae (II-II, q.10, a.12), he explains that it is according to natural justice that children remain under the authority of their parents until they have the use of reason. Parents have a grave duty to form their children in virtue, truth, and faith. To remove a child from this authority without just cause is to act against the order of nature.

The Church and the state have distinct roles, both of which are subordinate to parental authority. The Church has the right and duty to ensure that baptized Catholic children have access to catechesis and the sacraments. She must support parents in preparing their children for the reception of confession, worthy communion, marriage, and holy orders. Since children are directed toward spiritual goods by their parents and the Church, the Church has a rightful jurisdiction in ensuring this formation in orthodoxy.

The state, likewise, has a legitimate interest in the moral and civic education of its citizens. Aquinas teaches that human law should lead men gradually toward virtue (I-II, q.95, a.1). A good state will therefore promote education that fosters civic virtues such as justice, honesty, respect for life, and stewardship of property. It may also provide vocational and practical training. But all of this must respect the principle of subsidiarity: that which can be done by the smaller unit (in this case, the family) should not be taken over by the larger.

This principle is strongly affirmed in the Church's magisterium. Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Divini Illius Magistri (1929), teaches that the right and duty of parents to educate their children is inalienable and therefore incapable of being usurped by the State. Vatican II’s Gravissimum Educationis reaffirms that: “Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators.” Public education, then, is only justified as a supplement to parental education and catechesis, never as a replacement.

Likewise, Catholic education—whether in parochial schools, homeschooling networks, or catechetical programs—exists to support and not override the parental vocation. When parents choose to utilize Church or state educational institutions, they do not forfeit their fundamental obligation. Rather, they rightly delegate certain tasks while maintaining oversight and responsibility for the whole formation of the child.

The procreative end of marriage is not primarily oriented toward the conception of children so much as it is oriented to the education and upbringing of children.

In cases of gross neglect or abuse, both the Church and the state may intervene to protect the child. However, such intervention must always be exceptional and carried out in a manner that respects the family’s dignity and natural rights. Aquinas allows for such intervention only when there is grave danger to the child's moral or physical well-being.

Importantly, the state has no authority to suppress the Church’s mission in education or to restrict the sacraments. As St. Augustine articulated in City of God, the spiritual authority of the Church is higher than the temporal power of the state. Aquinas supports this order, teaching that divine law and the guidance of the Church surpass civil law in authority and dignity.

Thus, a healthy society is one in which the family is respected as the primary locus of education, the Church is free to carry out her divine mission, and the state encourages virtue and civic order without overreaching. When these roles are rightly ordered and work in harmony, the child is nurtured in truth and love and prepared to live as a faithful Christian and responsible citizen.

The path forward in our confused age is not to reinvent education, but to restore it to its proper place: rooted in the home, nourished by the Church, and supported—but not supplanted—by the state. Only in this way can we hope to raise up a generation formed in wisdom and holiness, capable of rebuilding a truly Christian society.

Share

Today, we celebrate both the Sunday of All Saints and Father’s Day—and naturally, on such a day, we immediately reflect first on the example of our own biological fathers. Because God’s law is written on our heart, we can learn from our own fathers almost everything there is to know about fatherhood—because our dads were either a good example or a bad example of each of the different characteristics of saintly fatherhood. They teach us how to be, or not to be, good men.

St. Augustine says that all men are called to the vocation of spiritual fatherhood. Fatherhood is the vocational path by which men become saints. The saints are not distant icons; they are our family, our ancestors in the faith.

A Marine once wrote that 'Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.' St. Paul in Hebrews 11 names the great fathers of old: Gideon, David, Samuel—men who "through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice... were made strong out of weakness" (Heb 11:33-34). Yet these were not merely heroes—they were fathers who passed down a living faith, not by living comfortably, but by embracing their duty.

The Lord says in today’s Gospel: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me… and whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37-38). This is not an anti-family message—it is a purification of fatherhood. To be a father in Christ is to put God first, and then to love one’s wife and children, even when it means suffering for them. St. John Chrysostom says: "He who does not carry his cross is not truly a disciple."
(Hom. on Matthew 35.2)

Every father is called to carry the cross daily—laying down his life for his family by providing for their spiritual and temporal needs and protecting them from spiritual and physical danger. We provide for the spiritual wellbeing of our children by ensuring they have regular access to the sacraments, through catechesis, reading the lives of the saints, and daily prayers together in the home. We protect our children from spiritual danger by keeping secular pop culture out of the home and our children’s daily lives, which includes complete oversight of their screen-time, friendships, and other influences.

The saints we honor today were not lone mystics—they lived in the communion of the Church—some as bishops or martyrs, all as spiritual fathers or mothers. Their holiness is a model of fatherly sacrifice. The saints are the pillars and foundations on which the Church is built. (Commentary on Matthew 10.23). Every Christian father is called to be a pillar for his family and the Church through steadfast sacrifice, fidelity, and prayer.

And so today, as we honor the cloud of witnesses and thank God for our earthly fathers, let us remember: holiness is not for the few. It is the universal call of baptism. It begins at home—at the dinner table, in our daily family prayers, in the battles we fight for purity, integrity, and fidelity.

Therefore, let us “run with endurance the race set before us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus” (Heb 12:1-2), and let us ask the saints to intercede for all fathers: that we may become reflective icons of the one Father “from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph 3:15).

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy, now and forever and ever. Amen.

Share

Today is the fiftieth day—Pentecost—when we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. In the Old Testament, today marked the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), celebrated a week of weeks (49 days) after the second day of Passover. This feast began as a harvest thanksgiving, but by the time of Jesus it also commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. At Sinai, God descended in fire and thunder, giving the Law on tablets of stone. Today, in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit descends in fire again—this time upon the hearts of the Apostles—writing the new Law within them.

Our Gospel reading from John 7 takes place during a different feast: the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), when Israel recalled her journey through the wilderness and God’s provision of water from the rock. On the final day of that feast, the priests poured water at the Temple altar—which is why Christ’s says: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink... Out of his belly [meaning his inner being or heart] shall flow rivers of living water.” (Jn 7:37–38) St. John tells us: “He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.” (v. 39). So while the Gospel reading takes place at the Feast of Tabernacles, it points to Pentecost—when this living water would flow abundantly upon those disposed to receive it.

In the reading from Acts, the miracle occurs in the hearing of the Gospel: “Each one heard them speaking in his own language.” St. Gregory the Theologian beautifully explained that this was a reversal of the curse of Babel. He says, “[At Babel] tongues were divided through pride; here [at Pentecost], they are united through the Spirit.”

The Troparion for today helps us better understand the mission of Pentecost. We sing: “Blessed are You, O Christ our God, who have filled the fishermen with wisdom by sending down the Holy Spirit… and who through them have caught in your net the whole world...” By the power of the Spirit, the apostles became fishers of men, casting the net of the Gospel to every nation and tongue. Though many have rejected Christ and His Church, the goal remains: to catch the world—to bring all into the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

Yet, as we see in both the Gospel and Acts, the Spirit does not nullify our free will. Some are convicted and believe. Others reject the gift. Pentecost demands a human response. Will we receive the Spirit? Or will we remain satisfied with the world? To receive the Holy Spirit is to receive the grace which enables us to follow Christ in spirit and in Truth. The Holy Spirit is not given so that we can wield magic powers, but to sanctify our souls through the Gospel Way.

So today, let us invite the Holy Spirit—not as an ephemeral emotion or so called “spiritual experience”, but as the next step in our conversion, our communion with Christ, and our call to holiness through the life of the Church. The Holy Spirit is given to make saints out of sinners, temples out of fallen nature, and to lead us into the life of the age to come.

Oh, Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth …come and abide among us and in thy goodness, save our souls. Amen.

Today we commemorate the 318 Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, who defended the True Faith against the heresy of Arius. And this feast is especially significant in 2025 because this year marks the 1700s anniversary of that First Council. The battle against Arianism was a battle for the truth about our salvation. Arius denied that Jesus was truly God, but Our Lord, speaking to the Father, teaches us in today’s Gospel, “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3). If Jesus is not God, we cannot know the Father. If Christ is a creature, however exalted, He cannot give us eternal life. Only God can.

The Nicene Fathers knew this. That’s why they boldly confessed that the Son is ὁμοούσιος, meaning “of one essence” with the Father. Christ is not “like God.” He is God. And because He is God, He can draw us into divine union with Himself.

Saint Augustine said: “Let us ascend in Christ so that through Him we may come to God” (Tractates on John, 17.13). Christ alone ascends to the Father because Christ alone came down from heaven. And the only way we ascend with Him is by being united to Him.

How do we unite ourselves to Christ? Not by independent spiritual thoughts or “positive feelings,” but through Baptism, Chrismation, and Holy Eucharist. We are united to Christ through the Sacred Mysteries of Christ’s Holy Church. The Church is not an ethnic heritage club or an NGO. She is the Body of Christ, purchased with the blood of God Himself. Saint Paul says in today’s reading that we are “...the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). And as Chrysostom reminds us: “It was not a servant, but the very Master Himself who did this” (Homily XLIV on Acts).

Our unity with Christ flows from Christ’s divinity. Without His divinity, there is no true Eucharist. Without His divinity, there is no real forgiveness of sins. Without His divinity, the gates of heaven remain shut, and we remain slaves to sin.

Saint Athanasius, the greatest champion of this feast, said it profoundly: “For He became man, that we might become godlike” (De Incarnatione, 54.3). The Church Fathers we honor today fought for this truth. Some bore the trials of Roman persecution. Others were exiled. Many were slandered. But they stood firm. Why? Because truth matters! One of the great heresies of our day says that truth is relative. Relativism is an insidious lie. Jesus is the Way, Truth, & Life.”

Let us then live in the truth of Christ’s divinity as a sacramental reality clearly defined by the Fathers. Let us confess with the Council: “We believe... in one Lord Jesus Christ... true God from true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father.” And let us receive Him in the Eucharist as the source of our unity and our life.

To Christ our true God, who ascended in glory and abides with His Church forever, be honor and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Share

Subscribe now

In today’s Gospel, we encounter a man who has been blind from the moment of his birth. And the disciples, echoing a common assumption of the time, ask: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” But Jesus explains that “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (Jn 9:2–3).

Jesus teaches us that suffering is not always the result of sin. Sometimes, as St. John Chrysostom explains, suffering is permitted for the sake of God’s glory. This man’s affliction becomes the occasion not for condemnation, but for the revelation of Christ as Light of the World. God’s plan for this man was that his blindness not remain permanent. The man’s blindness was the means by which he would be healed, convert, confess Christ, and ultimately worship God.

Jesus heals in a very sacramental manner. He spits on the ground, makes clay, and anoints the man’s eyes—then sends him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. As St. Irenaeus notes, Christ uses the very earth from which man was formed, signaling a new creation. And St. Augustine adds that “Siloam,” which means “Sent,” points to Christ Himself, the One sent by the Father, and to the waters of baptism, which wash away the blindness of sin and restore spiritual vision.

But notice something else: the man is not healed instantaneously. There is a process that he must obey. His journey begins in darkness and unfolds gradually. He begins by saying, “The man called Jesus opened my eyes.” Then he professes, “He is a prophet.” Finally, when Christ reveals Himself as the Son of Man, the man responds with full faith: “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him (Jn 9:38). St. Cyril of Alexandria says this is the pattern of true conversion: first obedience, then recognition, then full confession and worship.

We see a parallel movement in Acts 16. Paul and Silas, though beaten and imprisoned, are seen sing hymns of joy. Their heroic bravery and faith became the occasion of their witness. Then God sends an earthquake—not to punish the jailor but the create an avenue of mercy for him. The earthquake not only opens the prison but opens the heart of the jailer who cries out, “What must I do to be saved?” And the answer is the same: “Believe in the Lord Jesus” and follow the Way. And that night, he and his household are baptized. He passes from fear to faith, from mortal danger to life.

This is the logic of grace: suffering often disposes the soul to conversion and worship. What seems like a loss becomes a path to salvation.

It is the same for us. Each of us begins in darkness, each of us is summoned by Christ, and each of us is called to worship. The final goal is not simply to see, but to fall down and say, “Lord, I believe,” and worship Him.

And in the Divine Liturgy, we do exactly that. Let us joyfully embrace our sufferings and adore Christ in the Eucharist. The same Christ who opened the eyes of the blind man wants to open our hearts to the light of truth. Let us come to Him in humility. Let us allow our wounds to become an opportunity to receive His grace. Let us allow our afflictions to lead us to adoration. Amen.

The raising of toddlers today requires not just courage, but a return to the sacred rhythms of tradition. Our world, increasingly marked by frenetic pace and post-Christian values, invites parents to reassess their deepest commitments. What does it mean to raise a child in the 21st century? The answer lies not in novelty, but in fidelity—to Christ, to His Church, and to the wisdom of generations past.

Modern parents are often plagued by conflicting advice, pop culture, behavioral trends, and the tyranny of screen addiction. Yet, as Solomon wrote in Proverbs, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). This ancient directive is more relevant now than ever, calling parents to rediscover the perennial Catholic tradition of child rearing.

The Family as the Primary School of Virtue

A child’s education must be, first and foremost, a spiritual endeavor. The formation of conscience and the nurturing of wonder are tasks that begin in the cradle and never truly end. Psychological and mechanistic approaches to childrearing have been overemphasized in our contemporary society. Instead, we need to focus on the need for sacramentality, moral formation, and parenting by example. Your child will be as you are.

The Christian home should be a domestic sanctuary, where the child is gradually initiated into the moral and sacramental life of the Church. The formation of character must begin in infancy. Like monks in a cloister, children must be taught the rhythms of prayer, silence, work, and joy. To this end daily chores, play, prayers, catechesis, and readings from the lives of the saints are imperative.

The Role of Temperament and Discipline

Art and Laraine Bennett’s The Temperament God Gave You (2005) builds upon classical insights into human nature by helping parents understand their children’s innate temperament. Recognizing the choleric child’s need for direction, the melancholic’s need for affirmation, or the sanguine’s need for boundaries allows parents to tailor their discipline with both wisdom and charity. This is not indulgence, but incarnation: forming virtue through the unique strengths and struggles of each little person.

Yet no character is formed without discipline. David Isaacs, in Character Building: A Guide for Parents and Teachers (1976), emphasizes the need for consistent parental authority. Virtues, he notes, are cultivated through repeated action, reinforced by loving correction and example. Toddlers thrive on order, and as early as 18 months old, they can begin to internalize habits of obedience, gratitude, and self-control. These are not small accomplishments—they are the building blocks of civilization.

Motherhood, the Domestic Liturgy

The anonymous Capuchin priest who penned Mother Love: A Manual for Christian Mothers in the 1800s held no illusions about the demands of motherhood. He exhorted women to see their vocation as one bound up with the salvation of their children. The mother’s role, he wrote, “is second only to that of the priest, for she, too, prepares souls for heaven.”

This manual reads less like a parenting book and more like a spiritual retreat. It reminds mothers that each meal, diaper, and lullaby offered in love is a participation in the liturgy of daily life. In the words of the late Pope Benedict XVI, “The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” This greatness begins in the nursery.

Resisting Ideological Indoctrination

But even the most faithful households must reckon with the post-Christian landscape that surrounds them. In The Lost Tools of Learning (1948), Dorothy Sayers lamented the decline of classical education, observing that students were no longer taught how to think, but only what to think. Her solution? A return to child development as a whole, beginning with wonder, discipline, memorization, and play.

Josef Pieper’s Leisure, the Basis of Culture (1948) complements this critique by calling parents to resist the cult of productivity. He reminds us that the foundation of culture is not work, but contemplation. For toddlers, this means preserving unstructured play, wonder, and silence—things our digital culture often denies. A toddler staring at a ladybug or building a tower of blocks is doing the foundational work of philosophy: contemplating being.

Michael O’Brien, in A Landscape with Dragons: The Battle for Your Child’s Mind (1994), offers a sober warning to parents: the culture is catechizing your children. If you do not guard their imaginations, someone else will form them—often with devastating consequences. O’Brien urges parents to curate their children’s stories and entertainments, offering them tales that form rather than deform the heart and the moral imagination.

The Moral Imagination and the Restoration of Wonder

C.S. Lewis, in The Abolition of Man (1955), warns that the loss of objective truth and beauty in education leads to the unmaking of man. This “unmaking” begins not in the university lecture hall, but in the playroom. If toddlers are fed ugliness, vulgarity, and vice, they will not later recognize truth, goodness, and beauty when they meet them.

Christopher Dawson, in The Crisis of Western Education (1961), observed that the health of a culture depends upon its spiritual vision. For the Catholic parent, this means not just raising a “good child,” but a saint. It means teaching our toddlers to love prayer, to see Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and to sense the sacramental in the ordinary.

Upright Kids in an Upside-Down World

Ray Guarendi’s Raising Upright Kids in an Upside-Down World (2019) brings a contemporary, no-nonsense voice to these ancient truths. He reminds parents that love and authority are not opposites, and that saying “no” is sometimes the most loving thing a parent can do. His wit cuts through modern confusion: “You’re not raising a child; you’re raising a future adult.”

My father held that it is especially important to get it right with the first child so that a bar is set for subsequent children. This is important on many different levels, but especially when one considers the importance of teaching first by example. A well-trained oldest child sets an example for the rest of his siblings and makes the job easier as the family size increases.

Indeed, parenting toddlers is an act of hope. It is an investment in souls that will one day shape the Church, the culture, and determine their eternity. It requires a long memory and an eternal vision.

Conclusion

Raising toddlers in the 21st century is not a task for the faint of heart, but it is one for the faithful. It demands that we reject the noise of modernity and listen again to the whisper of wisdom—from Solomon to Dawson. It calls for mothers who pray and instruct in virtue, fathers who lead and bless, and homes that echo with song and silence, imaginative play and laughter, prayer and sanctity.

To form a child is to prepare him for heaven. To raise a toddler in the love and truth of Christ is to defy a world gone mad, and to begin the restoration of moral order. Let us not look to the latest parenting trends. Let us look to the saints and the perennial Catholic tradition.

For my recommended reading list for parents and children see Recommended Reading for Parents and Mr. Warner’s Annotated Booklist of Children’s Classics.

Share

In an age of radical individualism and ideological rebellion against every form of authority, the Catholic tradition offers a necessary and urgent corrective. Rooted in Sacred Scripture, developed by the Fathers of the Church, refined by St. Thomas Aquinas, and clarified by the Magisterium, the Christian understanding of authority is neither authoritarian nor permissive. It is a structured reflection of divine love. Authority is granted to leaders by God, not for domination, but to promote the common good and guide souls to their supernatural end. And the pope, as the Vicar of Christ, serves as the father of the universal Church.

As we unite in prayer for a new pope, let us likewise ask God for a restoration of faith and divine order within the Church, which can only come about by a renewed understanding and charitable exercise of papal authority.

Rebellion and Disorder: Lessons from the Fall

The disobedience of Adam and Eve was the first rebellion against divine authority. Their fall—“you will be like God” (Gen 3:5)—was a rejection of God’s paternal governance. The Catechism teaches, “Man, tempted by the devil… let his trust in his Creator die in his heart” (CCC 397). Through autonomous rebellion, Adam and Eve did not become “more creative, free expressions of themselves” but instead lost their freedom and communion with God, becoming slaves of sin, concupiscence, and despair.

All subsequent rebellion, whether doctrinal, liturgical, or moral, is an echo of that first rupture, because authority is appointed by God to safeguard truth, love, and order. Just as fatherhood in the family is necessary to protect and guide, the papal office is necessary to preserve order, unity, and truth in the Church. Disorder in the Church often begins with disorder in either our understanding of authority (e.g., Martin Luther) or with misuse of authority by the one entrusted with it (e.g., Henry VIII). Note that it is important to frame this discussion within the context of the Protestant Revolt because the rejection of authority within (and outside) the Church can be traced back to that time.

Roots of Ecclesial Authority

The papacy is founded on the primacy of Peter among the Apostles. Christ’s words—”You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church… I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 16:18-19)—establish the foundational principle of ecclesial order. Authority in the Church is not invented by man, but instituted by Christ.

St. Paul confirms this ecclesial structure when he speaks of the Church built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Eph 2:20). The governance of the Church is not a human bureaucracy but a sacramental reality, divinely ordained.

The Church Fathers consistently acknowledged Peter’s unique role. St. Irenaeus, writing in the second century, emphasized the necessity of unity with the Roman Church because of its preeminent authority: “For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with [Rome], on account of its preeminent authority” (Adversus Haereses, III.3.2). St. Cyprian taught that the See of Peter is the principle and foundation of unity. St. Augustine taught that Peter held a primacy among the apostles and that this primacy endures in his successors.

The Petrine office, then, was understood as a divine institution from the beginning, intended to safeguard unity and orthodoxy.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in turn, articulated the nature of just governance: “Law is a rule and measure of acts… ordered to the common good” (ST I-II, Q.90, a.1,2). Authority must serve truth and goodness. Even papal authority, though divinely instituted, is not arbitrary. It must be rational, just, and directed to the sanctification of souls. Aquinas insists that obedience to human authority is due only when it does not conflict with divine law (ST II-II, Q.104, a.5).

The pope, though possessing the fullness of ecclesial power, is bound by the revelation entrusted to the Apostles and preserved by Tradition.

Papal Authority in Collegial Context

St. Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621), a Doctor of the Church, defended the divine institution of the papal office, insisting that the pope, as successor of Peter, possesses primacy of jurisdiction over the whole Church. Yet he also made clear the limits of papal authority. Bellarmine taught that the pope cannot change divine revelation, overturn ecumenical councils, or command what is contrary to natural or divine law. “If the Pope were to command something contrary to natural or divine law, then it would be lawful to resist him.”

He emphasized that the pope is within the Church, not above it: “The Pope is not above the Church, but within the Church; he is the first among the bishops, but still a bishop” (Controversiae).

Bellarmine’s ecclesiology provided a foundation for Vatican I’s definition of papal infallibility and guards against both Gallicanism (which undermines papal authority) and ultramontanism (which over-expands papal authority). His thought ensures that true papal authority remains a service to unity and orthodoxy, not a license for tyranny or invention. Papal leadership among the college of bishops fosters ordered doctrinal development within the parameters of Tradition, at the same time safeguarding against doctrinal evolution in conformity to popular errors.

Is ecclesial authority flawless? No. Bishops have free will. It took centuries to overcome the Arian heresy, and there was a time when most bishops were Arians. Many modern heresies are “flourishing” in the Church, and it may take several hundred years to root them out again. Time will tell, but it cannot happen without the pope.

We can have bad popes and bishops that are not in conformity with Sacred Tradition, but we can’t restore Sacred Tradition to the Church without the authority of the pope as leader of the college.

The Union of Brest: A Greek Catholic Affirmation of Papal Authority

As a Greek Catholic clergyman, I would be remiss if I did not mention the Union of Brest.

The Union of Brest (1595–96) offers a historical model of ecclesial communion that preserves legitimate liturgical diversity while affirming the universal authority of the Roman Pontiff. The Greek Catholic bishops who acknowledged union with Rome explicitly accredited the pope as “the head of the Catholic Church, the successor of the Apostle Peter, to whom full authority has been given by Christ our God to tend His flock.” At the same time, they insisted on retaining their synodal governance, Eastern liturgical rites, and canonical traditions, thereby safeguarding the unique patrimony of the Christian East.

This arrangement did not dilute papal primacy but harmonized it with a collegial and subsidiarity-based vision of Church governance. The pope was recognized not as an autocrat but as a paternal source of unity whose authority supports—not supplants—the integrity of particular Churches. The bishops requested that their internal ecclesial life not be micromanaged by the Roman Curia, affirming that their clergy be chosen locally and simply confirmed by Rome.

In doing so, the Union of Brest demonstrates that the Petrine office, when properly exercised, strengthens rather than erodes diverse ecclesial traditions and patrimony. It affirms a Catholic vision of unity in truth, wherein communion with the successor of Peter is essential, yet not at odds with the fullness of Eastern Christian identity.

Vatican I and Vatican II

The First Vatican Council’s Pastor Aeternus (1870) solemnly defined the primacy and infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. This primacy is not delegated by bishops or councils but comes from Christ Himself.

It is important to note, however, that Pastor Aeternus defined the doctrine of papal infallibility under very specific conditions: when the pope speaks ex cathedra, intending to define a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church (ch. 4, §9). This charism of infallibility is negative in nature. It prevents error under very specific, rare circumstances, but does not guarantee perpetual inspiration, ecclesiastical prudence in every action or comment, or personal papal holiness.

Infallibility does not make the pope a source of new revelation, but a guardian of what has been divinely revealed once for all by Christ to the Apostles.

Of equal importance, Vatican I did not grant the pope absolute power. His authority is bound by Divine Revelation, Sacred Tradition, and the purpose of his office: to guard and transmit the faith of Christ through Apostolic continuity.

The Second Vatican Council deepened this understanding. In Lumen Gentium, the Church teaches that the pope is “the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity of both the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful” (LG §23). His office is paternal—unifying and sacrificial—not imperial.

Vatican II also emphasized the importance of episcopal collegiality. The bishops, united with the pope, form a single apostolic body. Lumen Gentium makes clear the pope’s authority is not isolated from the broader life of the Church but exists to preserve her unity in truth.

This unity extends from the teachings of Christ and the Apostles as recorded in Sacred Scripture and handed down through Sacred Tradition—from the Apostles to the Fathers of the Church (AD 100-1100) to the Theologians (AD 1100-1750)—thus maintained by the consistent teaching of the Magisterium since the beginning.

With this in mind, there is no such thing as “Pope Francis’ magisterium” or “Pope Benedict’s magisterium” if we understand that phrase to mean that the current reigning pope has his own personal “magisterium” which somehow supersedes or nullifies the continuous teaching authority of the Magisterium throughout the preceding ages.

Duties of the Roman Pontiff: To Teach, Govern, Sanctify, and Unify

The pope’s authority is inseparably bound to his duties. He is not a monarch in the secular sense but a servant of the servants of God (servus servorum Dei). If he neglects his duty, he is a bad, sinful man, like any other bad man who neglects his duties. Again, the Holy Spirit does not guarantee that every pope will be a saint. There are likely several popes and many bishops in hell. The Church has never shied away from that reality. Judas is in hell (Jn 17:12), and so are many others like him.

We shouldn’t let that bother us or lose our faith over it. Baptism in Christ does not ensure immediate perfection without error for the faithful and clergy alike. We are a Church of sinners, working out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil 2:12), judged by God according to our merits in the performance of our duties.

The pope’s essential responsibilities include those of any bishop: to teach, govern, and sanctify, but in addition to these three, the pope also has the duty to maintain the unity of the faith as head of the college of bishops:

• Teaching with Clarity: The pope is the custodian of the deposit of faith (1 Tim 6:20), not its inventor. His office exists to “strengthen the brethren” (Lk 22:32) in faith, not to create new doctrines. As the Church’s supreme teacher, he must proclaim the Gospel in continuity with Sacred Tradition. His teaching authority is limited to guiding the faithful toward salvation in harmony with the consistent Magisterial teachings of the Church regarding faith and morals.

• Governing for the Good of the Church: The pope’s governance includes the power to legislate (canon law), to approve bishops, to define doctrine when needed, and to oversee the administration of the sacraments and discipline of the faithful. His governance includes legislative, judicial, and disciplinary power rooted in the mandate to preserve the deposit of faith and sanctify the Church through right worship. The pope governs not as a worldly ruler but as a spiritual father, healer, and guardian of the Church’s communion with Christ.

• Sanctifying the Church: Through his governance of liturgy, sacraments, and discipline, he is responsible for ensuring that the faithful have access to the Sacraments. He is also responsible for ensuring that the sacramental order is free from error and exercised with integrity in harmony with Sacred Tradition.

• Principle of Unity: Without communion with the Roman Pontiff, the visible structure of the Church fragments into competing claims of authority, doctrine, and sacramental validity. The Fathers of the Church, such as St. Irenaeus and St. Cyprian, consistently affirmed that unity with the See of Rome was essential for remaining within the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The pope binds the bishops together in apostolic communion. Without the papal office, ecclesial unity is left to mere consensus, which is always vulnerable to division. Thus, the pope is not an optional feature of Church governance but an essential sign and servant of Catholic unity.

A Path Forward: Rediscovering the Papal Office

In our time of moral confusion, clerical scandal, and ecclesial fragmentation, a renewed understanding of papal authority is urgently needed. This is not a call for authoritarianism or papal maximalism, but for fidelity to the Church’s teaching on the office and limits of the pope’s duties and responsibilities.

The pope is the father of the Church. But like every father, his authority is deviant if it does not serve life, truth, and divine order. Restoration will not come through papal novelty but through papal fidelity to Christ, Scripture, and Tradition.

The faithful must fervently pray for a new Holy Father who will embrace his duties well and support him when he teaches the truth. We also need to pray for our bishops, that they may have the courage to make an appeal and remind the pope, at times, of his God given duties, if and when he departs from them. For as St. Paul once rebuked Peter to his face (Gal 2:11), so too must we remember that even the pope must be respectfully corrected when he fails in his duty. The pope is human and a sinner, like our own biological fathers, and like our own fathers, we must honor and obey him so long as he does not contradict God’s law.

Authority is a blessing, not a burden, when it is rooted in the truth and ordered toward salvation. May the Church rediscover the sacred purpose of papal authority and, through it, restore faith and divine order within the Church.

Share

Gustave Doré, “The Widow’s Mite,” 1870 (photo: Public Domain)

[This essay was published by Christopher B. Warner in the National Catholic Register on April 5, 2025.]

Catholics are often asked whether we are called to tithe. The answer is both simple and profound: Under the new law of Christ, we are called to offer not a fixed percentage, but our whole being — and every gift God has given us — back to him in thanksgiving as a pure offering.

The early Church Fathers made it clear that Christians are not bound by the Old Testament tithe. This doesn’t mean we are required to give away all our material goods; the Fathers were talking about a holistic orientation of life.

The amount we must give is not stipulated by the Church. That decision is a prudential one, best made by the head of the household. This allocation may change from month to month and will depend entirely on the current material circumstances of the household. Some poor families should give no money at all, while some wealthy households may be able to give away as much as 90%.

Offering Ourselves with a Pure Heart

One of my old business mentors, a Protestant, used to say, “All you have to give away is 10% — you can do whatever you want with the other 90%.” That is not true. I’m afraid many Protestants approach the Bible with a kind of superstition, as if it were a magic code book. I’ve even heard more than one non-Christian success coach claim that giving 10% to charity is a “law of the universe” that will make you wealthy.

This is not what Catholics believe. The Fathers of the Church teach that the offering is rooted in generosity — first to our dependents, then to our pastors, and then in alms to the poor outside our household. The 10% figure is not a magic number. It’s about the offering, not the percentage.

Catholics believe that all our wealth belongs to God. As stewards of his gifts, we should offer them back to him every day. Many Catholics do this as part of a Morning Offering, such as: “I offer to you the entire and full right of disposing of me and all that belongs to me, without exception, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity.” Whatever the form, the offering should be made with a pure heart.

Making an offering is part of what we do as Christians when we come to God in prayer. Jesus warned that our offering is unacceptable to the Lord if we bring it without first being reconciled with God and neighbor (Matthew 5:24). He challenged the Pharisees on tithing because many were observing the letter of the tithing law without forgiveness, generosity or charity.

Sadly, fallen human nature had turned something noble — supporting the priestly class and their service to the the poor — into something legalistic, prone to judgmentalism and even extortion. The only time Jesus is described as being violently angry is when he drove out the money changers who were exploiting the poor as they came to the Temple to pay their tithes and make their sacrifices.

The New Law of Generosity

The Fathers of the Church teach that Christians are not bound to tithe according to the prescriptions of the old law. St. John Chrysostom, for example, said that Christians should not limit their generosity to 10%.

Under the new law of Christ, we are told to love our neighbors and be generous with them at all times, “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). The word neighbor literally means “the one who is nigh” (closest to me). So when God tells us to be generous with our neighbor, that means first with our spouse, then our children, then our extended family and parish community, according to the principle of subsidiarity.

This means that every minute on our calendar and every budgeted item on our Excel sheet should be allocated toward love. The time, energy, income and resources we share with our wife, children and the Church are all offered with charity in our hearts as a thanksgiving to God.

St. Ambrose of Milan taught that the principle of generosity follows the principles of subsidiarity and distributive justice. So, who is your poor neighbor? Who is closest to you and in need? First, your dependents; then your pastors; then the poor in your community; then the religious educators and others who serve the Church — and so on.

Charity That Saves

It is important to remember that not all needs can be met with money — in fact, most cannot. A child needs a mother’s undivided love, discipline, training and attention during the first five years of life and beyond. A craftsman doesn’t need a handout; he needs employment. A widow needs the care of her children. The sick need a loving caregiver — ideally a family member or a holy person — somebody like Sts. Cosmas and Damian, St. Hildegard or St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

Is it always possible to meet people’s needs perfectly with selfless, loving care? Maybe not. Are there exceptions to these situational norms? Yes. But it’s important to recognize that there is a standard. Our world is fallen, but that does not mean we should accept its abnormalities as the norm for how we love and care for one another. The Holy Family is our standard for family life, and the saints are our models for practicing charity. We should strive to imitate them.

Why? Because a person’s soul is at stake — every time. True charity inspires conversion and reconciliation. The goal of charity is not to help someone buy a boat someday; the goal of charity is salvation. If we have not shared the love of God with someone and inspired them to seek holiness and follow the Way, then our charity has not borne the fruit it was intended to bear — because nothing matters more than getting to heaven and helping others get there with us.

We have all heard the expression, “You can’t take it with you when you die.” Earthly goods are here to serve us in our journey — to help us grow in virtue and get to heaven. In the hands of a good person, material wealth can accomplish much good. That’s why it’s important that people have the freedom and means to be generous, rather than being overburdened or restricted in their ability to give.

Giving 100%

In summary, Christians are not called to tithe as a legal obligation under the old law, but are instead invited to embrace a higher calling: to give of themselves and their resources entirely, in love and thanksgiving to God. True generosity flows from a heart transformed by Christ’s oblation on the cross. As St. Irenaeus writes in Against Heresies:

The people of Israel used to dedicate tithes of their possessions. But those who have been given freedom devote what they possess to the Lord’s use. They give it all to him, not simply what is of lesser value, cheerfully and freely because they hope for greater things, like the poor widow who put into God’s treasury her whole livelihood.

As Our Lord himself says: “Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

The Church teaches us to prioritize the needs of our family, parish and community in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and distributive justice. As the Fathers of the Church remind us, charity is not simply the transfer of material goods but the cultivation of relationships and the salvation of souls. By imitating Christ and the saints, we show that every act of generosity is an offering of love — ultimately storing up treasure in heaven and leading others to encounter God’s love through faithful Christian stewardship.

God will not judge us based on whether we tithed or not. He will judge us based on how loving and generous we were with our family and friends — how attentive we were to their needs. Let us not settle for giving merely 10%, but strive to give 100% to God in love — just as Christ gave himself for us.

Share

Today’s epistle reading focuses on joy—a joy that flows from virtue and charity. In contrast, selfishness is the root of sadness. Interestingly, St. Cyprian teaches that joy reaches its fullness when we embrace cross. Christians exercise their greatest faith and virtue not when times are easy, but by enduring suffering and persecution for love of God when it is difficult. Part of this pure joy, as St. Paul reminds us, comes from the nearness of Our Lord in times of trouble. When we trust in Him and turn to Him in prayer, He listens, responds, and gives us the grace we need to overcome difficulties. For example, singing the prayers of the Church gives us peace and regulates our emotions. We pray in the Psalms: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit!”

In today’s Gospel, it is remarkable to observe how each of the followers of Christ interact with Christ on what we now call Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday. Christ knew what was about to take place; He knew He was going up to Jerusalem to be put to death, but not all his disciples had accepted this yet. Many of his followers thought he was going up to Jerusalem to take the throne and rule as King of the Jews including this crowd that gathered around Christ at Bethany to see Lazarus whom Jesus had risen from the dead. For many, this was proof enough that Jesus was the Messiah who was going to lead them to victory over their political enemies in Jerusalem. Jesus was going to defeat His enemies, but Jesus’ true enemies are unseen. Jesus is not a political Messiah. His kingdom of heaven is much greater than any earthly kingdom could ever be.

Mary, the sister of Lazarus, probably came closest to understanding Our Lord’s words and purpose. She anointed His feet with a pound of pure and precious fragrant oil that she had purchased for His burial.

On the other hand, Judas is no longer listening to Jesus. John shows us in his gospel that Judas was already lost because of his sins; Judas is a thief. It is noteworthy that Christ tolerated Judas and did not cast him out earlier, even though he knew that Judas’s heart was no longer with him. Augustine says that Jesus teaches us in this that we have a duty to tolerate the wicked so as not to divide the Body of Christ based on the principle of showing mercy to sinners knowing that we too are sinners and that we will be shown mercy by God in proportion to the mercy we show to others. God’s Justice will prevail in the end. Our duty is to show mercy to the baptized and pray for their salvation. But we should also not be surprised when unrepentant sinners betray the Church and cause suffering within it, like Judas did. It is part of God’s plan to let the wheat grow up with the chaff.

The next day, Jesus did not raise an army and conquer Jerusalem; He rode up the mountain of the Lord as a lamb is led to the slaughter, riding humbly on the back of a donkey. This was to fulfill the scripture passage from Zechariah which prophesied, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Behold your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.”

St Caesarius says that the donkey symbolizes the Church upon which the Son of God will sit when he brings her into the Heavenly Jerusalem. Let us, therefore, rejoice with Christ today for he is entering his passion, he is going up to Jerusalem to conquer death by death! He is going to rise from the dead to begin a new creation through the Sacramental order of the Church. We are entering the holiest week of the year, let us be glad and rejoice because the Mysteries of our salvation are at hand.

I encourage you to participate in this week’s services on Holy Thursday and Good Friday; take time off from work. Holy Week is the greatest drama, the greatest celebration of life, death, redemption, and victory that the world has ever known. The Pharisees despaired in seeing that the whole world was following Jesus; but we should rejoice and be glad in it. The Lord reigns! He is not the mere King of the Jews; He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and His Kingdom will last forever. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest!

Share

Subscribe now

I opened a can of worms with my post on Tuesday and I want to bring some peace, clarification, and resolution to some of the things I addressed in that post. If Tuesdays post and Wednesday’s rally threw you for a loop, you are going to want to read this.

I know I said I was going to get away from writing about the market, but this is an exception because the stock market volatility in the past month is one of those occasions that only happens once in a blue moon. As the provider of my family and an investor, I needed to pay attention to the market right now. Ray Dalio believes that we are in a once in a lifetime end of cycle period. The end of our current 100 year cycle could last another 5-20 years, but I has to end sometime. Ray Dalio has been studying 100-year market cycles for over 20 years. Today I want to write about the importance of exit strategy.

$450 billion is traded in the stock market every day. The U.S. stock market is worth $52 trillion. We can’t know everything that is going on in the world market, that is impossible, and it is completely beyond our control. Nobody knows if the stock market is going to go up or down today. You have a 50% chance today of the market going up or down, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

The stock market is not rational. The market is a bunch of people making independent decisions based on whatever information or feelings they are operating on in the moment, and as we have seen in the past week, the stock market is easily manipulated by politicians, private interests, day traders, the news media, etc. That has always been the case; and the easier it is to buy stocks—the more volatile the market becomes. That is true of any market.

The reason I exited the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) in February is because it is (still) so overvalued, and I think there will be a better buying opportunity in the future. So far, I haven’t found anything I am willing to hold on to, and with this past week’s volatility, I am waiting it out on the sidelines until after this “storm” blows over, to see what happens. I wrote about that on Tuesday.

My Exit Rules

To keep emotions out of our buy and sell decisions in the market, it is important to have non-discretionary rules for exiting and reentering the market. Non-discretionary means, I set my emotions aside and follow these rules no matter what happens, even if I have a very strong feeling or reason to believe that the markets will rebound next week.

The world market moves with the U.S. market because the U.S. market is the biggest market, and the “index” is predominantly represented by the S&P 500­— the 500 biggest companies in America.

I have two simple non-discretionary rules for exiting the S&P 500 index:

· The 25% trailing stop rule

· The 5% fractal wave rule

The 25% trailing stop rule is this; I exit the index (or an individual position) when the price of the index closes 25% below its 52-week high. The reason I do this is because of drawdown and recovery metrics.

The S&P 500 has delivered an average annual return of 10.13% since 1957, but the volatility during that time was far from average. If you had left your money in the S&P 500 in 2000 you would have seen a 51% drawdown by the end of 2002 and another drawdown of 58% from 2008-2009. It would have taken 13 years to recover from those two events; 15 years if you calculate for CPI inflation—and that is just to get back to zero. The drawdown in the early 1930s was 86% and took 25-30 years to recover. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) had an 83% drawdown between 2000-2002.

As you can see from the chart above, a 25% drawdown requires a 33% recovery to get back to even. In an average market, that might take 2-3 years, but it is doable. A 50% drawdown requires a 100% recovery which could take ten years. An 85% drawdown requires a 567% recovery. It could take you 50 years to recover from an 85% drawdown. That is why I put a 25% trailing stop alert on the index and exit the next day if it triggers, because I am not going to risk my capital based on a “feeling” that it will “probably” go right back up.

As of this writing and after yesterday’s big rally, the S&P 500 is at 5,307, which is only 14% down from its high of 6,147, but Tuesday it was 21% down at 4,851 and the QQQ was down 25%.

If you are still in the S&P 500 index and you want to wait to see if it hits -25%, I will not advise you against that. The reason I exited my S&P 500 position in my 401k on Monday not because of the 25% trailing stop rule but because of a different rule-

The 5% Fractal Wave Rule

I explain fractal wave patterns in my book. Essentially, a fractal geometric pattern is something we see in nature with trees, waves, earthquakes, etc. And we see it with the buy-sell decisions people make in the stock market.

On April 1st we saw the QQQ move 2.1% from high to low. 4/2 it was 2.9%, 4/3 5.6%. I generally recommend getting "out of the water" when the "waves" are over 5%... 4/4 6%, 4/7 9.3%, 4/8 7.7%, 4/9 11%... These big swings have only happened a few times in the past 25 years: 2000, 2008, 2020, and this past week. Maybe we hit the bottom Tuesday, maybe we didn't. These are big waves. The question I had to ask myself was, “Are you willing to risk a long recovery period just so you can play with the whales during a hurricane? That is why I am on the sideline. I don’t like the drama.

The stress of watching the stock market make these big swings and watching trillions of dollars get erased from people’s retirement funds is stressful. I would prefer to be out of the stock market altogether. I would buy bonds, if they kept up with inflation, but unfortunately there are very few things that have the potential to keep up with inflation right now, really just two: stocks and real estate.

I am taking this opportunity to learn more about real estate because I know that sitting on cash is the worst thing I can do with my capital. Maybe I will reenter the stock market in a few months, maybe I won’t. I mentioned Tuesday that I have a non-discretionary rule for reentering the stock market index, as well. I will give a more in-depth explanation of that another time.

One last thought: another reason I exited the market is because it is Great Lent, and we are going into Pascha (Easter). I don’t want any more stress or drama going into the holiest season of the year. I don’t want to be checking my stocks every day, and worrying about them at night. The stock market will still be there, having most of the same problems, in 90 days.

Have a blessed Holy Week!

Share

Subscribe now

The last week has been brutal for stock market investors, and we are likely not out of the woods yet. I have completely exited the stock market and am waiting on the sidelines in cash, but now what? It could be a year or more before trade negotiations are worked out and the stock market gets back to “normal.”

On Friday the price of the S&P 500 index dropped over 5%, so on Monday I sold the few stocks I had remaining, activating my 5% “fractal wave” rule, which you can read about in my book. The market tried to rebound today, but I am afraid it will be short lived. I will wait several months now before I attempt to reenter in my retirement accounts. There is more going on in the market than just a trade war. This is my take on it:

· Stock valuations have been very high by historical measures and remain high, despite the recent sell-off. If it wasn’t tariffs, something else would have eventually triggered this price correction. That is the nature of the stock market, it goes up and it goes down, and nobody knows how far up or how far down it will go.

· Our debt to GDP ratio is unsustainable. Trump has said he wants to use tariff dollars to pay down the public debt. I support paying off the public debt, but time will tell whether his plan will work. If tariffs push the world economy into recession, this plan might backfire. China holds a good portion of our public debt and who knows how things will escalate with China. For this reason, I also do not own any treasury bonds, at this time.

· Manufacturing. 4 years may not be enough time to reverse the 60-year trend of offshore manufacturing. Many U.S. companies will likely move their manufacturing to countries that have lower tariffs, raise prices, and wait to see what happens in a few years.

· Inflation. The big killer in all this will be inflation. Because of 10%-25% tariffs, we will likely see 10%-25% inflation in the coming year. That is a brutal reality considering the stock market is not likely to finish correcting itself any time soon. This is called stagflation—when the market stagnates, and inflation rises.

· Natural Disasters, Wars, and Foul Play. If we don’t think God is trying to get our attention, then we are doomed to suffer for a long time, until we do acknowledge His Hand, accept His corrections, and get back on the “straight and narrow.”

What if We Have a Recession? What are good “Recession Proof” Investments?

Since it could be a year or more before a bull market returns, I have turned my mind to real estate. I own one rental property with my brother and son, but real estate is something they know more about than I do. It is something I intend to study more closely in the coming months. It is not a good idea to be sitting on cash. It is too easy to spend cash, which is not the purpose of owning capital. Everyone needs a roof over their head, in good times or in bad times. Housing is a basic, universal need. Thus, the real estate option.

And if you lose your job during a recession, consider starting your own business. A business is often the best possible investment. Find a need and meet it. There are many businesses that do well during recessions. If you are young and eager, try the trades!

In the meantime, beware of “bear traps” in the stock market. A bear trap is when a bear market has a short-term rally before falling again. Markets don’t go straight up or straight down. I have a non-discretionary rule for reentering the market. I wait until the price of the S&P 500 remains above its 200-day moving average for a full calendar month before reentry.

As of this writing the S&P 500 index is at 5,059 which is 12% below its 200-day moving average and 18% below its high of 6,147, and I would not be surprised to see it go to 4,000 before October. That would be a reasonable correction considering the current P/E valuations; and if we are in a year-end recession and Trump is sticking to the Trade War, the index could go lower than that. 4,000 would be a 35% correction. A 35% drawdown requires a 54% recovery, which could take 5 years to get back to 6,000 again, in an average market.

I am okay with waiting on the sidelines in cash, for a few months at least, to see what happens. In the meantime, I am going to look into other ways of generating cash flow.

This stock market correction is likely a divine correction as well as a natural one. For the Fathers, divine chastisement is not opposed to God's mercy but is an expression of it. Hardships due to sin are pedagogical, not cruel; they serve to awaken the conscience, purify the soul, and lead sinners back to the Church. In this view, punishment is medicinal, not merely retributive.

If we take this stock market correction as a divine correction, and learn from it, then we will be the wiser and more virtuous on the other side. I don’t know what God is trying to teach you, but I think He wants to teach me about trust, providence, and real estate. 😊

Take care!

Share

"Our public education system has not only undermined religion, it has replaced religion with socio-political ideology." Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Fr. Deacon Christopher Warner of the Acton Institute about the state of modern education and the challenges facing Catholic parents. Our discussion explores:

• How public education has shifted from teaching critical thinking to promoting ideological indoctrination

• The historical roots of education's transformation through cultural Marxism and the sexual revolution

• Why all education is inherently sectarian and reflects specific worldviews

• The false anthropologies being taught to children that contradict Catholic understanding of human nature

• How parents can navigate a system increasingly hostile to Christian values

• The principle of subsidiarity in education and why it "begins at home"

• Practical alternatives including homeschooling, private education, and hybrid approaches

• The importance of protecting children from harmful media influences

Fr. Deacon Christopher shares insights from his experience as a Catholic educator and offers guidance for parents seeking to raise children with authentic Catholic formation. Whether you're concerned about the public school curriculum or looking for alternatives, this conversation provides a framework for understanding today's educational challenges through a Catholic lens. This episode reminds us that as parents are the primary educators of their children, we must be vigilant about the values and worldview being taught to the next generation - and be prepared to take more active roles in their education when necessary.

https://www.cofcomcat.com/episodes/episode/1e340719/education-or-ideological-indoctrination-with-christopher-b-warner

Share

The reading from Hebrews today is about faith, hope, and the assurance of our salvation. Two thousand years before Christ, the Lord swore an oath to Abraham that He would bless and multiply Him. God swore an oath and gave Abraham strong assurance of his salvation and that promise sustained the faith and hope of not only Abraham, but of all his righteous offspring, including Moses and David, until the coming of the Messiah, who was held in the arms of St Simeon and announced, “Your Word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people” these past two thousand years.

Christ then made a new oath through his passion, death, and resurrection—a new covenant that has sustained our faith and hope for the past two thousand years. God’s promise in Christ is the door of our salvation, our anchor in times of trial, our comfort and certainty no matter what threatens us. Through the sacramental order established by Christ through the Apostles we have assurance of salvation and hope of eternal life. With this faith and hope, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We have so many sureties of our salvation through the Church, guided and sanctified by the ministerial priesthood of Christ, according to the order of Melchizedek.

Today’s gospel passage is about a pitiful man who had very weak faith and little hope. He did not recognize Christ as the Messiah, he did not believe Christ or His Apostles had the power to save his son, but he did have the humility to ask for the gift of faith, and that was his salvation. The story is about a boy who had been possessed by a demon since he was a child. Bede remind us that children are not born innocent in all respects because of original sin. The child’s father had despaired but asks Jesus, without much hope. if anything can be done. Jesus replies saying, “If you can believe, all things are possible.” This is a reminder that we have free will. Our Lord wants us to cry out to him and plead for his mercy. This was the moment of conversion for the father of the demoniac because he then earnestly pleads, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” He could not have been more sincere in his cry for help, because in that moment he realized he was a weak believer and so he asked the Lord to make up what was lacking in his virtue of faith.

Faith is a virtue that needs to be developed through practice, but faith is also a gift from God, meaning that it is both a natural virtue and a supernatural virtue. We can develop the natural virtue and we have the supernatural virtue, if we are in a state of grace, but we need to beg the Lord for an increase in faith because we cannot have perfect faith without his help. We have union with God through the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Our duty is to remove obstacles to these virtues and beg for their increase in our soul. We remove obstacles to faith by making acts of faith and of hope, for example, by praying the daily Psalms and by focusing on the meaning of the words we pray during the Divine Liturgy.

Prayer together with fasting is very important for the healing of our soul and body. St Jerome says that softness and effeminacy are healed by fasting, and anger and laziness are healed by prayer. Fasting detaches us from carnal passions and prayer keeps us from being foolish. If we don’t fast and pray, God has to teach us the hard way by punishing us with sickness, hardship, and sometimes even demonic possession. It is easier for Our Lord to instruct us in the way of perfection concerning the things of eternity if we fast and pray. All attacks from the enemy can be overcome by prayer and fasting. And Our Lord’s just wrath for our sins can also be appeased by prayer and fasting. Let us continue to fast and pray with faith and hope this Lent! God is near.

I am grateful to be here and offer a few words at the funeral of so holy a woman. Jeannine is my grandmother and we grandchildren have always called her “Nonnie.”

A homily is traditionally given about the gospel. Gospel literally means “good news,” and I would like to take this opportunity frame Jeannine’s life within the context of the Catholic Gospel message, because she is a great example of one who lived her life in harmony with the Gospel.

The good news is this: That God made us because He is perfect love and desires to share that love with creatures because He is generous. But we humans are unique. He made us men and women not only to be loved but to love; he made us for loving communion with Him and one another.

But in order for us to reciprocate God’s love, He also gave us free-will, the power to chose God or deny Him, the freedom to know God or ignore Him, to love God or curse Him, the freedom to serve God or to serve ourselves. Adam and Eve were deceived by the devil into thinking they could be equals with God, that they too could be gods and decide what is best for themselves without obedience to God’s laws.

We call this decision by Adam and Eve, Original Sin, because that first sin introduced sin and death into the world. Death and all the evils, injustices, and sufferings of the world are the result of that original sin and the sins of the human race that have been committed since the beginning; and I think we can all agree we have made a pretty big mess of things.

But God never withdrew His love from us and even while man was sinning he learned to repent and ask for God’s forgiveness and because some men were righteous, as we read about in the book of Wisdom today, God began to prepare for these righteous men a beautiful path of salvation that would restore us to the relationship we lost when Adam and Eve sinned. That gathering together of the people of God, who worship and serve God according to His revelation, is called the Church. We call the Church before Christ, the Jews and we call the Church after Christ, the Catholic Church because this is what happened.

In the fullness of time, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. The Second Person of the Triune God became a man. Without giving up any of His divinity, Christ took on all of our humanity, except sin. Why? Because only by becoming a man could God conquer sin and death. Jesus had to die because death is the just punishment for sin, but because He is God, death did not conquer Him, he conquered death, forever. No longer is man destined to eternal separation from God in hell because of his sins. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, meaning that He came to restore us to communion with God through Himself. How is this possible?

It's not automatic, we still have free will. We still have to freely choose to know, love, and serve Him. How do we do that? First, we have to believe that everything He has revealed to us through the prophets and the apostles is true. Secondly, we need to repent of our sins and beg for God’s mercy with firm amendment to live the rest of our lives in peace and repentance, rightly worshiping God according to His precepts. Thirdly, we are invited by God to be coheirs of the kingdom with Christ, adopted sons and daughters of Our Heavenly Father. We do that by uniting our lives to Christ in the sacramental life of the Church. What is the sacramental life of the Church?

1) Baptism by water and the spirit, 2) Confirmation where we receive the seal of the Holy Spirit like the Apostles did when Jesus laid hands on them and again at Pentecost, and 3) the Eucharist because Jesus said, “Unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life within you.” We also need the other sacraments: confession, marriage, holy orders, and anointing of the sick, because these mysteries make up THE Way that Jesus instituted with His Apostles.

The Way Jesus set up for us to get to Heaven is through the sacramental life of the Church. And who in the Church did Jesus give the authority and responsibility to—to guard and distribute the sacraments? The Apostles—and the Catholics bishops are the successors of the Apostles—every one of these traces their lineage back to one of the Apostles. Priests are just deputies of the bishops. As St Ireneus said in the second century, “where the bishop is, there is the Church.”

So, the good news is, you can reverse the effects of sin in your life, and you don’t have to be condemned to hell, as your sins justly deserve. You can go to heaven and Jesus has given us the Catholic Church as The Way of salvation. To reject the Church is to reject God’s plan for your salvation. To reconcile yourself with the Church and live the sacramental life in peace and repentance for the remainder of your life is the only way you will get to heaven AND ever see Nonnie again, because this is the path that Nonnie followed, and I am pretty sure Nonnie is in heaven.

Now, it’s not the tradition of the Catholic Church to eulogize or canonize the dead on the day of their funeral. This homily is for you, not Nonnie. Today we offer this funeral mass for the soul of Jeannine because it is our duty to pray for the dead. Even when we know someone has died with the graces of the Church as Jeannine has, there is still the probability that the soul will necessarily undergo a time of purification in Purgatory.

Let me clarify: Purgatory is not hell. Purgatory is good. Purgatory is a state of purification for souls who still need to make restitution for sins that have been forgiven, before entering into the full glory of heaven. Purgatory is the anteroom of heaven and is only for those who have made it. It is not a second chance at salvation.

For one who has prepared one’s self for Heaven, as Nonnie has, Purgatory is a merciful gift of God that purifies souls before they enter Heaven. We can’t just stumble into the presence of God; that would destroy us. Purgatory is willed suffering. If Nonnie is in purgatory she is suffering willingly. Purgatory is standing outside the banquet hall longing to go in, simultaneously knowing you’re not perfectly ready yet. In a sense, its because you know you need to take a shower, put on your best clothes, do your hair, etc. Entering heaven is the biggest event of your eternal life. It can’t be taken lightly.

Unfortunately, many souls remain in Purgatory longer than they need to due to a lack of prayers and penance offered for them by believers on earth. This is why it is so important to offer Masses and pray the Rosary for our beloved dead, because it greatly relieves their suffering. You might say, well, I don’t believe in a God that would allow Jeannine to suffer any more; she suffered enough. That may be true, but let me ask you this, did God allow Nonnie to suffer in this life? Yes, we all suffer in life. God does not cause suffering, we sinners cause suffering in the world. Suffering is the just effect of our individual sins and the collective sins of the entire world.

If I steal a $100 from you and I confess it and tell you I am sorry, but I don’t give you the $100 back, I haven’t made restitution. Suffering is how we make restitution for sin, so it makes sense that suffering is part of our purgation before heaven, here and after we die.

You might say, yes, but Nonnie wasn’t a sinner; she was so holy. Yes, she was holy, but she certainly sinned. We all sin. Only Jesus and his Blesses Mother lived their entire life without sinning. And because we sin, we suffer the effects of sin. And if we are not careful, we may suffer the effects of our sin for all of eternity. Here I am not talking about Nonnie, I’m talking about you.

Nonnie’s father, Bompie, kept a card in his wallet with a list of the Four Last Things. This was a common practice among Catholics in his day, and Nonnie would have learned about the Four Last Things in her Catechism classes growing us. The Four Last Things are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. They are the fundamental realities that every person must face. These teachings serve as a reminder of human mortality, the necessity of repentance, and the eternal consequences of our earthly decisions.

1. Death, a consequence of original sin, is a certainty for all of us. By death we mean the death of this earthly body, but we are made in the image of God meaning we have an immortal soul. In today’s reading from St. Paul, we are instructed that “the dead in Christ will rise first”, their souls will be reunited with their bodies, and “God will bring [into heaven] those who have fallen asleep in Him”, meaning united to Him through the sacraments.

2. Judgment: The Church teaches that there are two judgments:

1. Particular Judgment – Immediately after death, the soul stands before Christ and is judged based on its faith and works (CCC 1021-1022).

2. General Judgment – At the end of time, all will be resurrected, and God’s justice will be revealed before all creation (CCC 1038-1041).

• St. Alphonsus Liguori warns that nothing will escape God’s judgment: "Our past sins will stand before us, our conscience will accuse us, and Christ, as the just Judge, will render His verdict: Come or Depart!"

The Church teaches that judgment is not based on feelings but on objective reality—either a soul has lived according to God’s law or it has rejected it. Unfortunately, many souls are lost because they presume upon God's mercy but fail to repent and be reconciled with the Church before death.

3. Heaven: Heaven is the eternal reward of the righteous, where the soul experiences the Beatific Vision—when the righteous see God face to face and worship Him for all of eternity.

Heaven is not automatic—one must strive for holiness and actively cooperate with God’s grace in this life, before death. There is a modern tendency to assume everyone goes to heaven. That is simply not the case.

4. Hell: God is loving and merciful and he is also just. He would not be God if he was not perfect justice. And Hell is the just punishment for those who die in unrepented mortal sin. Hell is a state of eternal suffering, where the damned experience the loss of God, eternal regret, and eternal torments.

Hell is real and it would be uncharitable of me not to tell you that many souls go there. Funeral Masses should scare the hell out of us, literally. The greatest victory of the enemy is when he convinces people that hell does not exist. Many modern Catholics fall into the sin of presumption. Presumption is persisting in serious sin assuming you will be saved and go to heaven.

Nonnie was not presumptuous. She knew these four last things and spent her whole life preparing for death. She was like the faithful servant in today’s Gospel parable:

· Jesus describes faithful servants who keep their lamps burning, meaning they remain in a state of grace and are prepared to meet their Master (God) at any moment.

· The Church teaches that a holy death requires perseverance in grace, avoiding mortal sin, and staying close to the sacraments.

· Catholics practice vigilance by regular confession, prayer, penance, and reception of the Eucharist, ensuring they are spiritually prepared whenever Christ calls them home.

· Devotion to Our Lady through the daily mediation of the rosary is also a powerful habit Nonnie learned from her father, Bompie.

And Finally, Jeannine died with the graces of the Church receiving Last Rites: Confession, Holy Anointing, Viaticum, and the Apostolic Pardon.

The last rites are the Church’s most powerful spiritual aid for the dying. These sacraments, given at the end of a Christian’s earthly life, prepare the soul for its final journey and judgment before God.

· Confession is crucial at life’s end because it restores the soul to sanctifying grace if it has fallen into mortal sin. The Catechism (CCC 1446) teaches that reconciliation with God through confession is necessary for salvation, because sin separates us from God.

· Holy Anointing., formerly called Extreme Unction, is given when death is imminent. The Catechism (CCC 1526-1532) explains that this sacrament imparts the Holy Spirit’s grace to strengthen the soul, provide peace, and, if it is God’s will, restore bodily health. But most importantly, this sacrament unites the sick person more fully to Christ’s Passion, allowing suffering to be redemptive rather than merely painful.

· Viaticum, meaning “food for the journey,” is the reception of the Holy Eucharist as one’s last communion before death. The Catechism (CCC 1524) teaches that it is the sacrament of passing over from death to life, fulfilling Christ’s words: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (John 6:54). Viaticum is the greatest gift a soul could receive before death, ensuring union with Christ in their last moments.

· And finally, the Apostolic Pardon, is a blessing given by a priest to grant the dying full remission of punishment due to sin. The Catechism (CCC 1471-1473) affirms that while sin’s guilt is removed through confession, temporal punishment remains and is usually purified in purgatory. The Apostolic Pardon, granted with the authority of the Church, applies a plenary indulgence, ensuring immediate entrance into heaven for those properly disposed and takes effect at the hour of death.

This powerful grace reflects the infinite mercy of God and the authority of Christ’s redemption through the ministry of the Church. Popes and theologians, including St. Alphonsus Liguori, greatly emphasized its importance, urging priests never to neglect giving it to the dying. Jeannine received all four of these phenomenal graces before she died.

Conclusion

So, is Jeannine in Heaven? She certainly hoped so. Nonnie spent her whole life fostering the gifts of faith, hope, and love, preparing herself for these moments. And seeing as she died in the loving arms of Christ through the sacramental graces of His Church, we also have very good reason to hope that she is in heaven. In the Greek tradition we pray “Save Oh Lord and have mercy on those who have fallen asleep in faith and hope of the resurrection.”

I will leave you with Jeannine’s own words about this hope. Mom found this in Nonnie’s Bible a few days ago. It’s a meditation on death that Nonnie wrote out for herself. It reads, “Death… is the beginning of new life [so] we have to surrender ourselves to our Maker and give our life once more for His taking, giving back all that we are and have. In this surrender, I willingly leave my loved ones in Hope of being met with openness by my Savior and His Blessed Mother Mary to escort me to my new life.”

If you are a Catholic striving to live Catholic family life or foster Catholic culture in today’s upside down world, you are not alone. There is a growing number of Catholic clergy, families, and individuals who are participating in a vast culture war for the survival of Western (Catholic) Civilization.

My motivation to participate in this culture war by writing about Catholic truth and culture in relation to family life has not waivered in the least.

If you noticed I have not posted in the past two weeks, it is because I was having some technical difficulties with the website, but those issues have been resolved. I would, however, like to take this opportunity to give you an update.

• Two weeks ago “The Way of the Family” had a monthly readership of 7,000 views. After launching in January, those are numbers I never expected to see so soon. Thank you for your interest and support.

• Many people have expressed an interest in reading my homilies, which are about living the Gospel in the 21st century from a first millennium (Church Fathers) perspective, so I have decided to take those out from behind the paywall to make them more widely available.

• Less people are interested in specific investment advice than I imagined, which is just as well, because I would rather focus on topics more generally related to family life, i.e. parenting, marriage, and general household management.

The practical result of these reflections is that I have simplified the way you can engage with “The Way of the Family.”

• I reduced the number of newsletters from four to two: “Way of the Family” and “Homilies.”

• All the content is now free.

• If you would like to make a donation to support my work, you can upgrade to a “paid subscription.”

• If you would like to “chat,” I have opened up that feature on the site, as well.

Action to Take:

Please take a moment to manage what newsletters you would like to receive with your subscription. To manage your subscriptions-

• click on your Substack profile ( the circle in the top right hand corner of the webpage), then

• click on “manage subscriptions.”

• Under “Notifications”, you can decide which newsletters you would like to remain subscribed to.

• There are two newsletters to choose from: The Way of the Family and Homilies.

Subscribe now

Thank you for your readership. If you have any questions, feel free to respond to this email or ask questions of general interest in the chat.

Blessed Lent!

Fr. Dn. Christopher

At no other time in history have Westerners been so out of touch with economic reality. The socialist ideal of “income equality,” for example, is not a Christian idea. Equal dignity as human persons created in the image and likeness of God, yes. Equal justice and representation in a court of law, yes. But income equality and forced wealth redistribution through taxation are extremely harmful to the Christian way of life.

From the early debates among the Founders to the insights of the Church Fathers and modern reflections on class dynamics, the tension between aspiration and humility offers valuable lessons for how we should view wealth, status, and our responsibilities in society.

The Founders of the United States were divided on the role of class in society, with Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson advocating for a more egalitarian, agrarian vision while Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and James Madison recognized class distinctions as natural and beneficial. Hamilton argued that a wealthy class is essential for stability and prosperity, while Adams emphasized the inevitability of a “natural aristocracy” based on talent and virtue. Madison acknowledged the inherent existence of factions tied to economic and social differences, proposing representative government as a way to manage these tensions. The U.S. Constitution itself reflects a mutual agreement, balancing popular representation with legal protections for private property.

Ultimately, the Founders’ debates and the structures they created suggest that social and economic classes are not only natural but necessary for a stable and functional society, as they provide balance, incentives, and a framework for governance.

The idea that class distinctions serve a beneficial purpose is echoed in Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum:

There are truly very great and very many natural differences among men. Neither the talents, nor the skill, nor the health, nor the capacities of all are the same, and unequal fortune follows of itself upon necessary inequality in respect to these endowments. And clearly this condition of things is adapted to benefit both individuals and the community; for to carry on its affairs community life requires varied aptitudes and diverse services, and to perform these diverse services men are impelled most by differences in individual property holdings. (§26; emphasis added)

Pope Leo’s perspective affirms that wealth inequality is unavoidable and fundamentally serves the common good when individuals fulfill their roles and responsibilities within society.

The concept of socioeconomic class in the United States has developed from a focus on land ownership and economic independence in the colonial era to a more complex understanding shaped by industrialization, globalization, and cultural shifts. In the nineteenth century, class distinctions became more pronounced with the rise of industrial capitalism, as wealth concentrated among a small upper class while a growing working class moved off of farms and into factories. The twentieth century brought the expansion of a prosperous middle class, fueled by wartime savings being channeled into technological innovation and business growth, which enabled higher wages and expanded homeownership. During this period, many Americans embraced the ideal of upward mobility, recognizing that hard work and determination could elevate one’s economic status, and going to college would likely secure a position in the upper middle class.

Today, socioeconomic class is defined not only by income or wealth but also by education, occupation, and social identity. However, while “wealth inequality” has reversed course, many Americans still feel entitled to “identify” with the upper middle class through their spending habits—purchasing luxury goods, embracing trends, and maintaining lifestyles beyond their means. Despite this aspirational consumption, most Americans lack the productive assets or high income necessary to sustain such lifestyles, often relying on debt to sustain their spending habits. This disconnection between actual economic status and perceived class identity highlights the cultural power of the American Dream and the societal pressure to appear upwardly mobile while, in fact, this delusional consumer debt spending is fueling a return to greater economic disparity among the classes.

Additional signs of this growing disparity between rich and poor and the decline of the middle class are illustrated by the facts that, first, wages have stagnated in the face of rampant inflation since 2020 and, secondly, we are seeing increasing numbers of middle-class people struggle with problems historically more associated with poverty—namely addiction, isolation, financial instability, spiritual poverty, and family breakdown.

Humility comes before wealth

The Fathers of the Church would see Americans’ obsession with projecting wealth and status as financially irresponsible and a failure to practice humility. St. John Chrysostom warned, “Do not adorn the body, but clothe the soul with great virtue.” That wisdom applies today: instead of trying to keep up with the Joneses, we should be striving to cultivate the virtues of charity, prudence, temperance, and modesty. True wealth isn’t found in appearances or possessions but in living a life of love, fidelity, and service. Humility demands that we focus on our duties and obligations toward God, family, and community and let go of the pride that derails us.

Humility also demands that we take our place graciously, which is to say that we need to live in reality. If we are poor, we should not spend like we are middle class and we should seek out assistance from family or our church community, if we need to, without feeling ashamed. If we are middle class, we should not adopt the spending habits of the wealthy. If we are wealthy, we need to be mindful of the needs of the Church, the poorly educated, and the innocent poor, while not spending all our wealth on luxuries and self-indulgence.

This is not to say that social mobility is wrong. Social mobility is a good thing and can go both ways. St. Basil the Great and his siblings gave up their wealth voluntarily to serve the Church and founded two monastic communities on their family estate. On the other hand, if you are the father of a family and desire to provide a better education for your children or want to be able to be more generous, it is a noble thing to want to move one’s family out of poverty into the middle class. Understand, however, that social mobility from poverty to wealth usually requires multiple generations, which is ordered, natural, and good.

Americans are obsessed with “rags to riches” stories, which are very inspiring but not a guarantee or an entitlement. There is a little more to it than just “following your dreams.” Immigrants can come to America, who already have virtue, humility, and aptitude and do very well here, but 40% of Americans are still trying to get there by winning the lottery.

Each socioeconomic class has its particular duties and responsibilities, which require their own set of virtues. These virtues are best handed down from parent to child and constitute a large part of one’s moral upbringing.

An abundance of wealth will not solve anyone’s root problems. More money will only make a man more of what he is already. If he is a scoundrel, he will become more of a scoundrel, and if he is a saint and can keep his head, he will become more of a saint.

The American Founders and the Church Fathers alike understood the importance of accepting and embracing one’s station in life with dignity while also recognizing the opportunities for growth and service that come with it. True virtue lies not in projecting affluence or striving for status but in living a life of prudence, temperance, piety, fidelity, and true charity. By cultivating humility and recognizing the natural roles and responsibilities of class, we will be happier, and our example will help move society toward more just and virtuous ends—a society that values character over consumption and charity over selfish pleasures.

Are you poor, middle- or upper-class? Take this self assessment.

Share

Christ is among us!

Today, on this First Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy, commemorating the restoration of the veneration of holy icons in AD 843. This feast affirms the heart of our faith: that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Because Christ took on human nature, we can depict Him; because He made Himself visible, we can gaze upon Him in the icons, just as the disciples gazed upon Him in the flesh.

The Co-eternal Son took on a body so that we might look upon God in the flesh and receive the gift of faith. St. Paul urging us: "Let us run the race with endurance with our eyes fixed in Jesus". In today’s Gospel, Philip says “Come and See”. But sometimes, like Nathanael, we hesitate. We want to make sure, we want to verify the truth and that is a good thing.

"Philip takes Nathanael to Christ, knowing that once he hears His words, he will make no more resistance." Nathanael wisely withholds judgement until he sees Christ; he wants to investigate. He seeks truth, exercises discernment, but is then humble enough to accept that Christ is indeed the Messiah when Our Lord reveals Himself to Him. When Jesus reveals His divine knowledge—"Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you" —Nathanael immediately confesses, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!".

Great Lent is a time to recover orthodoxy (right believing) and orthopraxy (right living)—which are inseparable. The heresy of iconoclasm denies that the human body can be sanctified and transformed, but the restoration of holy icons affirms that Christ is true God and true man, and that He came to save us through the renewal of our mind and body. This is why we fast, pray, do penance, and amend our lives.

In our modern world, the battle against iconoclasm has taken new forms. Modern culture seeks to erase not just sacred images but all signs of God, right worship, and orthopraxy —we complain of Latinization, but the greater evils are Protestantism, Gnosticism, and spiritualism in the Church—these are the modern day manifestations of iconoclasm.

St Basil defended the veneration of icons when he taught that "The honor given to the image passes on to the prototype.” To bow before an icon of Christ is to acknowledge His real, incarnate presence among us. To live our lives in imitation of His life is to become a saint.

On this Sunday of Orthodoxy, let us follow the example of Nathanael by seeking the truth with diligence and embracing it with humility. Like St. Paul, let us run the race of Lent with endurance, fixing our eyes on Christ. And like St Basil, let us defend and venerate the sacred images of our faith as witnesses to the Incarnation. Christ calls each of us, as He called Philip and Nathanael, to "Come and see." May our eyes be opened, our hearts and bodies purified, and our faith strengthened, so that we too may see and confess: "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!" Amen.