Reaching for Heaven

Detroit’s archbishop Allen Vigneron is calling on the priests and people of the archdiocese— and all those in southeast Michigan— to be as generous as possible to the relief efforts underway for the victims of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti. “We live in challenging financial times here in the Detroit area,” the archbishop says, “but that never seems to dampen the generosity of the people of this region when they have the opportunity to help their brothers and sisters in dire need.”In these early hours, officials have yet to determine the precise toll of death and destruction in the impoverished Caribbean nation, but have predicted the loss of life and property will be staggering. “We offer our ...

The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, 'Look, here it is,' or, 'There it is.' For behold, the kingdom of God is among you." Then he said to his disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, 'Look, there he is,' (or) 'Look, here he is.' Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. Luke 17:20-23 Does it seem to anyone else that we hear more and more people these days trying to predict the end of the world or the second coming? With movies like 2012 hitting the big screen, it can be tempting to ...

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. Ephesians 6:12-13 We talk at great length about the power of God in our lives. In this current culture, though, to talk about the power of the evil one is not as comfortable a topic. No one wants to point the finger at something and claim it to be the work of evil. Yet, if we believe in the Word of God, we know that evil ...

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined. Matthew 7:24-27We continue on our theme of dwelling and building today with this passage from Matthew. Once again, our lives and our bodies are likened to a house. What strikes me in reading this passage is that ...

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16When we think of a temple or church, what immediately comes to mind? Most likely it is an image of a structure, a building, something external to ourselves. How many of us would readily say that we are worthy to be a house of God? I know I wouldn't. That is, however, exactly what Paul reminds us that we are - a temple of our living God. If we remembered this and really took it to heart, how would we change our lives? Apart from the blatantly physical ramifications (for instance, perhaps God does NOT like McDonald's quite as much as I do), how would our behavior toward others change? How ...

Everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." Ephesians 5:14 We are rarely in complete darkness. Even when I stumble around at night, eventually my eyes adjust and I can see enough to find my way around the house. In the same way, our spiritual lives are not ever in complete darkness no matter how troubled we might feel. Christ, our light, is always at our side. If we keep our eyes closed and choose to wallow in solitary darkness, that is our choice, but one that is completely unnecessary. All throughout the Scriptures, we are promised light, and we know that God fulfills his promises. Too often, we walk ...

LORD, I call to you; come quickly to help me; listen to my plea when I call. Let my prayer be incense before you; my uplifted hands an evening sacrifice. Set a guard, LORD, before my mouth, a gatekeeper at my lips. Psalm 141:1-3Do you ever have those moments during the day where you want to take back something you've said? Ideally, if our lips are being used in prayer, they're less likely to utter those things that make us hit our foreheads in disbelief of the things that sometimes come out of our mouths. Now, I don't know any of us who spend our entire day engaged in vocal prayer - so perhaps this little psalm prayer should be our first!We sometimes forget the power our words have to wound ...