"May the Lord make you overflow with love for one another and for all, even as our love does for you. May He strengthen your hearts...At the coming of our Lord Jesus..." -- Thes. 3:12-13
Toy collections, food drives, charity bazaars -- all common activities in communities and parishes during the Christmas season. And they are good. They help fulfill Jesus' mandate to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31).
However, this command of Jesus is subordinate to the one preceding it -- "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind."
Love of neighbor flows from love of God, and love of God is a prerequisite for a charitable action. There is a profound difference between a humanitarian act and an act of charity.
A humanitarian action, admirable as it may be, is limited in potential. Rooted in human compassion and accomplished through human incentive, it goes only as far as the individual's generosity and goodwill carry it.
Regional Coordinator, Treva Dillick, gives an account of Women of Grace celebrating their sacred sisterhood on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
"Three years ago the first Women of Grace Foundational Study was presented at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Doylestown Ohio. That group of 12 women decided that after each Foundational Study concludes an invitation would be sent out to every woman who has attended the study previously. The celebrations includes a cover dish dinner and the greeting of the new sacred sisters who just finished the study and are receiving their WOG certificate of completion.
In Pope Francis' first World Day of Peace message which was released yesterday, the Holy Father reflected upon fraternity as the foundation and pathway to peace.
Even though attempts to censor Christmas from the culture are everywhere these days, a new Rasmussen poll found that 75 percent of Americans want Christmas to be a part of public schools.
During Wednesday's grilling on Capitol Hill, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius continuously dodged questions about why she has not yet provided the promised list of health care plans that cover abortion.
While it is necessary for our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being for us to extend forgiveness, it is just as necessary that we seek forgiveness when we have offended another.
"May the Lord make you overflow with love for one another and for all, even as our love does for you. May He strengthen your hearts...At the coming of our Lord Jesus..." -- Thes. 3:12-13 
