New Articles Every Monday
New Articles Every Monday
The Love Store
Modern culture speaks endlessly about love, yet often reduces it to little more than desire, pleasure, and personal fulfillment. After passing a provocative billboard advertising "The Love Store" on his way to Mass, Stephen A. Codekas reflects on what that slogan unintentionally reveals about our society's understanding of love. Is love something to be bought, consumed, and discarded, or is it something far greater?
Drawing upon Scripture and Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, this article contrasts the world's transactional view of relationships with the Gospel's call to self-giving, sacrificial love. Through the teachings of Jesus and the witness of the Cross, readers are invited to rediscover love not as a commodity but as a gift—and ultimately as a Person.
Don’t Look Back
Across Scripture and even the myths of the ancient world, one command echoes through history: don't look back. Why does so much hinge on a single glance over the shoulder? From Orpheus and Eurydice to Lot's wife and Christ's words in Luke's Gospel, this reflection explores why the Christian life demands a heart fixed not on yesterday, but on the Kingdom that lies ahead.
I bid You…Stand!
Aragorn's famous charge before the Black Gate reminds us that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to stand firm. Drawing from Tolkien, St. Paul, and the Gospel, this reflection explores the Christian call to remain faithful in an age of apathy, compromise, and despair.
At Exile’s End
Leaving the seminary was one of the most painful moments of my life. Like ancient Israel I found it hard to sing of God's glory. I was no longer in the Promised Land; an exile now, a stranger in a strange land.
The years that followed often felt like Babylon. Not because God had abandoned me, but because I could no longer see where He was leading me. The vocation I had pursued for so long appeared to be over. Doors closed. Plans unraveled. Questions lingered unanswered.
How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
For a long time, I did not know.
Yet looking back now, I can see that God was doing His work precisely in the place I least wanted to be.
A Heart After the Sacred Heart
As our nation has once again been consecrated to the Sacred Heart, perhaps the question before each of us is simple: Does Christ reign in my own heart?
What’s the Deal with Liceity, Anyway?
In this latest article, Stephen A. Codekas breaks down the often-misunderstood distinction between validity and liceity—and why it reveals something deeper about authority, obedience, and communion in the Catholic Church.
A Path to Purity in a Confused Age
Over time, I learned that the constant spewing of unnatural behavior did nothing for me but
create blinders of insensitivity to those Christian individuals who carry same-sex attractions, yet
who simultaneously strive and struggle to live an authentically Catholic life according to
Catholic Church teachings. Through the witness of the Saints, Church writings, and newly
inspired prayers, Stephen Codekas’ Blessed are the Pure helped remove the veil, both externally
and internally.
Ite Missa Est
When the deacon or priest says, “Go forth, the Mass is ended,” many hear only an ending. Father Kevin Tran argues that we should hear a beginning. Rooted in the ancient Ite, missa est, the dismissal is not simply a signal that Mass is over—it is a commission. Having received Christ in Word and Sacrament, we are sent into the world as His Body, carrying His presence into our homes, workplaces, and communities. The Mass does not conclude with departure from the pew; it continues through the mission entrusted to every baptized believer.
Fire In a Foreign City; Pentecost and the Ordinariates
What if Pentecost is more than a past event? Through pilgrimage to the Ordinariate Vigil in Houston, Halie Chrysler-Barr explores how the Holy Spirit continues to gather, sanctify, and unite the Church through worship and sacramental life.
The Hidden Pew
Many single parents remain in what might be called the “hidden pew”—present but largely
unnoticed, faithful yet quietly burdened. They arrive, participate, and depart with minimal
recognition, carrying both responsibility and hope.
To see them is not merely an act of social awareness; it is an act of ecclesial fidelity. It is to
recognize in their lives a reflection of Christ’s own path: one marked by sacrifice, sustained by
grace, and oriented toward redemption.