Page 7 of 12

Avoiding Starvation in Your Spiritual Journey

August 12, 2018 / Greg Garda

Attached to the church I work at is a residence for seniors and for individuals with disabilities called “The Lodge.” In the Lodge lives an elderly lady named Rose. Rose is one of a kind person. Once you meet her it’s impossible to forget her. On weekends before and after the masses she can be seen greeting people as they enter the church, guiding people to empty seats, and making sure people with disabilities get accessible seating. After the masses she can be seen handing out cookies to young children. If you’re a new face at St. Luke’s on a Sunday, Rose will find you and get to know you. You can’t miss her. She loves speaking to new faces and sharing exciting parts of her life and about her memories at St. Luke’s in her heavy South African accent.

During the weekdays, early in the morning (and I mean really early, like 5am-6am) she can be found cleaning up the sanctuary. She will organise the hymnals and straighten up the donation envelopes. Some have lovingly given her the nickname “The Church Mouse.”

If you have a chance to meet Rose, immediately you will notice that she speaks with confidence, has a positive attitude, shows genuine interest in your life, is overflowing with joy, and loves to share stories. …Oh before I forget, she is her 90s, she lives on her own, her children and grandchildren live out of the country, and her husband has been suffering with dementia for over a decade in a nursing home. Despite all this she is full of life. What the heck?!

Why Some Catholics Miss Out on the Christian Life

August 5, 2018 / Greg Garda

There are many things in my life that are routine. I wake up sometime between 5:30am and 6am to pray and have a coffee. I get ready for work. I kiss my wife and my two daughters before I head out the door. I will attend morning mass at my parish and then tackle my ministry related “to do list.” When I get home in the afternoon I usually play with my daughters or prepare dinner. Then we go for a walk as a family and upon returning home we proceed with our bedtime routine with the girls. This is a general snapshot of an average day in my life.

Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash

I got to be real with you. My mind isn’t always focused on the activities at hand out of the ones I mentioned above. Some mornings, my mind is on something important I have to finish at work, so I passively and quickly kiss my wife and girls and quickly shoot an impassionate “I love you” at them. Sometimes when I am playing with my daughters in the evening my mind is on a YoutTube video I’m looking forward to watching after they go to bed.

Early this morning I was sitting with my morning coffee in the silence of our home gazing out at the sun creeping over the horizon. A cliché question popped into my mind as I was listening in prayer. If I knew that I had a short time left to live, but I still had to do the routine things in my life, how would I approach them?

The word “intentional” popped into my mind. To spare you the boredom of reading through my intellectual gymnastics as I processed my thoughts, in short I resolved to focus on the task/activity at hand and nothing more. FULL immersion in all the moments I mentioned above.

Checklist Catholicism

Like the everyday routine moments in our lives, Catholics (including myself) risk the danger of reducing their faith to a list of routine tasks void of significance.

January 22, 2018 / Greg Garda

Discipleship and The Privatization of Religion

A Reflection on Mark 1:14-20.

Is God Afraid of Smart People? Why Has God Revealed Himself to “Simple People” First?

July 11, 2017 / Greg Garda

Some time ago I was reading the late Christopher Hitchens’ book “God is Not Great.” If you are familiar with Christopher Hitchens you will know that he is one of the leading figures in the “New Atheist” movement of the 21st Century. In his book one of the claims he makes against belief in God is that God always seems to reveal himself to the uneducated, vulnerable, and the poor, who, in his judgment are more naive and gullible. If God is real why is he so afraid to reveal himself to those who are well educated, hold prominent societal positions, or might pose tough questions towards him? So the assumptions ago.

Is this a valid question?

Courtesy of Unsplash.com by Mari Helin-Tuominen

March 4, 2017 / Greg Garda

Weekend Scripture Reflection: What is Holiness?

February 17, 2017 / Greg Garda

If I were to ask you if you consider yourself to a holy person, how would you respond?

I think it’s safe to say that most of us would hesitate labeling ourselves as holy because over time “holiness” has come to be associated with images of hypocrisy in the Church.

Courtesy of Unsplash.com by Aaron Burden

Desire Jesus

Holiness is the desire to be like Jesus. Holiness is less of a state of being and more of a disposition of the heart. Do you desire to be more like Jesus? If the answer is “yes”, then you are holy. If holiness was dependent upon perfection, then no one would be holy.. Pope Francis refers to the Church as a “hospital for sinners.” If everyone had the capacity to be perfect there would be no need for a church and we would still be living in the Garden of Eden. It is possible to be holy and yet still find ourselves being hypocritical. In fact every time we sin, whether it’s visually apparent to others or not, we are being hypocrites. If you’re a hypocrite then you’re in the right place. Jesus established the Church for you and for me.

February 10, 2017 / Greg Garda

In this week’s video I will explore how God has revealed himself through the person of Jesus Christ.

For 2000 years Christianity has made the claim that the historical person of Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Christian doctrine says that Jesus is fully God and fully human. This means that Jesus doesn’t abandon his divinity to take on human nature nor does he abandon human nature to hold onto his divinity.

January 29, 2017 / Greg Garda

January 22, 2017 / Greg Garda

January 13, 2017 / Greg Garda

Clearly Catholic