New Articles Every Monday

New Articles Every Monday

Then Comes Judgement

Then Comes Judgement

Modern culture rejects judgment, yet Christianity insists that judgment is unavoidable. Scripture teaches that each person will face a particular judgment at death and a final judgment at the end of time. Lent calls believers to examine their lives honestly before God, recognizing that divine justice and mercy will ultimately reveal the truth of every soul.

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First, Comes Death
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

First, Comes Death

Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven—together they form what Christian tradition has long called the Four Last Things. Like the Horsemen who share their number, they are not distant figures galloping somewhere beyond the horizon. They are already on the road. Already approaching. Already closer than we care to admit.

Yet before the soul stands before its Judge, before eternity opens toward Heaven or collapses inward toward Hell, something must happen first. There is no shortcut around it. No exemption. No delay granted by youth, wealth, or good intentions.

First, comes death.

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Rebuilding the World This Lent
Fr. Kevin Tran Fr. Kevin Tran

Rebuilding the World This Lent

In a world built on shortcuts, our relationship with God still requires intention. Drawing from Jewish tradition and the structure of the Sermon on the Mount, this Lenten reflection reframes the familiar practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving as Word, Worship, and Work—the three pillars upon which God established the world. Lent is not a performance or a program, but a deliberate walk with Jesus Christ, who alone is the destination and the prize.

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A Lenten Reality Check
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

A Lenten Reality Check

Friday abstinence was never meant to be a puzzle solved by loopholes. This article addresses a common Lenten misconception, explains why chicken is not permitted, and invites a renewed spirit of obedience and sacrifice. It’s time for a reality check.

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The Ash Wednesday Paradox
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

The Ash Wednesday Paradox

Ash Wednesday feels contradictory: public ashes paired with a Gospel that demands private repentance. But the tension is the point—and Lent is the test.

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Lent Is Not a Resolution
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

Lent Is Not a Resolution

Lent becomes a spiritual reset button, a chance to try again at becoming the person we wish we already were.

But Lent is not a fresh start.
It is a confrontation.


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You’re Not That Passionate
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

You’re Not That Passionate

“If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross.” The Passion is not an accident of history, but the measure of love itself—one that exposes how easily we confuse excitement with devotion.

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Theologians in Hell; Knowledge, Freedom, and the Reality of Self-Exclusion
Halie N. Chrysler-Barr Halie N. Chrysler-Barr

Theologians in Hell; Knowledge, Freedom, and the Reality of Self-Exclusion

When I first heard the statement “there are theologians in hell,” it startled me. The idea seemed harsh, almost accusatory — how could those who dedicate their lives to studying God end up separated from Him? Yet, upon reflection, this claim is neither cynical nor exaggerated. It expresses a deeply rooted truth in Catholic doctrine: that salvation is not achieved through intellect but through conversion. No degree of theological sophistication can substitute for holiness of life.

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The Crises of Our Time
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

The Crises of Our Time

If the great pastoral challenge of past centuries was ignorance of the truth, the great crisis of our own is indifference toward it. We do not live in an age that does not know—we live in an age that does not care. Surrounded by endless information, moral claims, and even the Gospel itself, the modern soul has learned not to resist truth, but to mute it. What may be most spiritually dangerous today is not invincible ignorance, but what might be called invincible apathy.

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Leave Those Lights Alone!
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

Leave Those Lights Alone!

Every year, someone reaches for the ladder a little too soon. Christmas lights come down, music fades, and the season feels abruptly finished. But the Church gently insists otherwise. Christmas doesn’t end all at once because the mystery it celebrates cannot be rushed. From the Nativity to Epiphany, the Baptism of the Lord, and even Candlemas, the Church lingers—teaching us that when God enters time, the proper response is not haste, but wonder.

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The Witness of Things
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

The Witness of Things

Faith remembers what God has done. Hope waits for what He has promised. Love acts in the present moment. In the end, all three converge at the Cross—the ultimate witness of God in time. There, the past is fulfilled, the future is secured, and love is poured out without reserve. The Cross does not merely explain faith, hope, and love; it reveals them, anchoring human weakness in divine fidelity and redeeming time itself.

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The Promise of Things
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

The Promise of Things

Hope is not wishful thinking or naïve optimism. It is the theological virtue that faces the future with confidence, anchored in the promises of God. If faith remembers what God has already done, hope waits for what He has sworn to do. Like a faithful companion waiting at the door, Christian hope is born of trust and sustained by expectation—certain that the Master who departed will return.

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An Examen
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

An Examen

The Examen is exactly that, an examination of conscience we do before entering the confessional in order to have a good and thorough confession. Use this article as a tool to help you during this Advent season and prepare for the coming of the Lord!

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The Evidence of Things
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

The Evidence of Things

What is faith, really?
For years, I could quote St. Paul’s definition—“the evidence of things not seen”—without understanding it. Only later did I learn that faith isn’t a leap into the dark but trust rooted in memory. The Christian does not believe because of what might happen in the future, but because of what has already happened in the past: covenants kept, promises fulfilled, a Cross that changed everything.
In the Eucharist, that past becomes present again. Through anamnesis, the Church doesn’t simply remember Christ’s sacrifice—she stands within it. And this is why suffering in our lives has dignity: because Christ has filled it with His presence. Faith is not blind courage; it is remembering the God who has already saved us.

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The Growing Light; St. Andrew’s Novena
Stephen Codekas Stephen Codekas

The Growing Light; St. Andrew’s Novena

Discover the beauty and meaning of the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. Learn how this beloved Advent devotion, prayed from November 30–December 24, mirrors the light of the Advent wreath and prepares the heart for Christmas.

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“He Shall Be Called” — Sheet Music Now Available
christmas, music, sheet, nativity Stephen Codekas christmas, music, sheet, nativity Stephen Codekas

“He Shall Be Called” — Sheet Music Now Available

The long-awaited sheet music for He Shall Be Called is finally here. Rooted in Isaiah’s prophecy and the ancient O Antiphons, this hymn was written to carry the quiet longing of Advent and the hope of Christmas. Whether for parish liturgies, choirs, small groups, or personal prayer, the official score is now available for download—bringing the music that began on a small parish stage to communities everywhere.

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When Angels Heard The Bells

When Angels Heard The Bells

Growing up in the desert of Southern California, I would look up at the silent bell tower of my childhood parish and feel a strange sadness that it never rang. Years later in Ohio, I finally heard church bells marking the hours — calling not just the faithful, but heaven itself. In a world ruled by deadlines and digital clocks, the Church once dared to sanctify time, to make the hours themselves holy. Every toll of a bell was both a call and a consecration — a reminder that even the passing of time belongs first to God.

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Waiting for Daylight
Halie N. Chrysler-Barr Halie N. Chrysler-Barr

Waiting for Daylight

Patience is not resignation—it is an active trust in God’s providence. Drawing from Scripture, the Church Fathers, and modern papal teaching, this reflection explores how waiting on the Lord can shape our hearts, deepen our hope, and transform seasons of suffering into grace.

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