November is the traditional month we as Catholics ponder the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. As we celebrate All Saints’ Day on November 1 and pray for all the souls in Purgatory on November 2, God draws our hearts to ponder the brevity of this life, the urgency of conversion, the beauty of eternity with God, and the possibility of losing our salvation through habitual mortal sin without repentance.
Category: Bishop Hying’s Columns
The Church and religious freedom
The United States Constitution guarantees religious freedom in the First Amendment.
This fundamental right propelled many persecuted religious groups in Europe (including the Catholics who settled Maryland) to come to America in pursuit of religious liberty — the ability to practice their own faith as their conscience led them.
Devotion to His Sacred Heart
The feast day of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is celebrated on October 16. On December 27, 1673, after another day of prayer and work was finished in the convent, St. Margaret Mary was praying alone in the chapel when the Sacred Heart appeared to her. Jesus’ body was filled with light and His Heart was on fire, bleeding and crowned with thorns.
The power of forgiveness
We all know that reconciliation and forgiveness lie at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus came to seek out and save what was lost, namely broken humanity, and to reconcile us to the Father and to one another.
How we can be led to Jesus
A recurrent debate on Catholic social media is the question of saintly intercession.
The mission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
The Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul falls on September 27. Born in France in 1581, Vincent was ordained a priest in 1600 and committed his life to the formation of the clergy and the service of the poor.
What is truth?
The dictionary definition of “truth” is “actuality” and “a body of real things, events, and facts.” As Christians, we know that Truth is a person, Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of the reality of God, come to us in human form.
God created the Earth and it was good
The creation account in Genesis is a stirring, poetic narration of God — the Divine Artist — fashioning the universe and the world into wondrous being.
Standing up to the abortion culture
In recent years, the abortion culture in our country has increasingly radicalized its goals, actions, messaging, and tone. In past decades, pro-abortion politicians would mouth the “safe, legal, and rare” mantra, although we knew that conviction was never the true belief of Planned Parenthood or the abortion lobby.
Labor Day and the dignity of work
As we celebrate Labor Day, our thoughts may turn to the end of another seemingly short summer with its more relaxed pace and to the beginning of school and the start-up of everything that goes with it.