Ave Maria In The Afternoon

The headlines this weekend brought news of two sudden, shocking deaths. A priest in Ecuador died while celebrating Mass when the crucifix fell of the wall and struck him – just moments after a homily in which he preached about how we prioritize our time. And a member of the US Air Force fell from the rafters during a pregame demonstration at a college football game, later dying of his injuries. If this doesn’t remind us of the fragility of life, nothing will. We must always “memento mori” – remember our deaths. Marcus has more.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, the Pharisees attempt to trick Jesus, asking if it is lawful to pay the taxes to Caesar. Jesus answers that they should “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” We unpack the readings with Rob Corzine.

In today’s First Reading, St. Paul writes to the Ephesians about how all of Salvation history, culminating in the Death and resurrection of Jesus, was envisioned by God from the beginning. And so when Paul declares that believers were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, he’s revealing the eternal horizon of the covenantal purposes that were first disclosed through Israel as a nation. Marcus has more.

Under the Levitical law, the priests were obligated to keep a fire perpetually burning on the altar of sacrifice. We discuss the theology of the temple flame with Mark Giszack.

Steve Ray is heading there on a pilgrimage, and you can join him! He joins us to talk more about the Biblical significance of the area.

Some are celebrating Canada’s government “indefinitely suspending” legalizing euthanasia for mental illness as a great victory for life – but Wes Smith thinks there are still reasons to be concerned. He explains why.

In a culture that talks constantly about love, while often reducing it to an emotion, feeling or personal preference, what, exactly, is love? We explore this essential question with Dr. Maria Fedoryka.

In 1976, pro-life Representative Henry Hyde sponsored an amendment to the annual Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare Appropriation Act to prevent taxpayer funding allocated in the bill from covering elective abortions. The Hyde Amendment has been passed every year since then and has saved an estimated 2.7 million lives from abortion. We look at its impact with Michael New.

On this Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, we talk with Dominican Chad Meyer about the meaning of this special prayer and how to incorporate it into your life.

Two recent stories encapsulate the ongoing prevalence of “cancel culture” on the internet. Last week, the Portland Trailblazers introduced Braiden Bell as their newest play-by-play announcer – and then fired him a few hours later for offensive social media posts he made as a teenager – in 2012. And a viral video of a couple at a baseball game – the wife holding a sleeping baby while her husband ate a hot dog – led people on the internet to rush to judgment about the couple’s marriage. Cancel Culture allows us to be modern-day Pharisees. It collapses the distinction between “you did something wrong” and “you are permanently the wrong kind of person.” Marcus has more.

When people do us wrong, Jesus instructs us to turn the other cheek and forgive – 70 times 7. It’s easier said than done. Jennifer Hubbard experienced the ultimate horror on December 14, 2012, when her six-year-old daughter Catherine was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. She joins us to share how she learned to forgive.

Chapter 7 of the Gospel of St. Luke records an encounter that took place when Jesus was eating in the house of a Pharisee named Simon when a woman enters the house and anoints his feet with precious oil. Simon is aghast that a supposed prophet would allow himself to be touched by such a sinner, and Jesus rebukes him. We talk more about the nature of Christ’s forgiveness with Joe Heschmeyer.

Pope Leo XIV has called his recent pastoral visit to France a “great gift,”saying the trip could be understood through one central image: the reconstruction of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. We talk about his trip and other church news with Matthew Bunson.

Suffocation awaited a young man with Down syndrome when the eroded surface of a toxic sewage tank crumbled beneath his feet. Joseph Vander Woude would have died alone in the cramped tank surrounded by toxic fumes, but his father jumped in, pushing him toward the surface with his last breath. Nearly two decades later, a group of Catholics are working to open the cause for Tom Vander Woude. His son Chris joins us.

Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there? Those are the questions we all face as we ponder our place in this world. Fr. John Riccardo has written a new book inviting everyone to rediscover the message of the Gospel – that there is a God, and that He loves them. He joins us.