Anna Caruso

           I am told that some young people shy away from the Church and following Jesus for fear that life will lose its luster.  I’m not sure where that notion comes from.  But I do know that it does not derive from the New Testament, at least not from a true understanding of the New Testament.  There is enough tragedy in its pages to make it the saddest book in all the world.  Yet instead, there is a prevailing mood of joy, confidence, and expectation.         Jesus was certainly no frowning savior.  His […]

         Several years ago, there was a story in the news about a family in a small town in Florida.  It consisted of a father, a mother, and two young sons.  They were normal family, except for one problem.  Both boys had AIDS.  Both boys contracted the virus through a blood transfusion.  Their presence in the public school was  bitterly resisted by other parents, whose children attended that same school.  One night, under suspicious circumstances, the family’s house burned to the ground.  Finally, they were forced to move to another town.  They had been rejected by their […]

                       Have you ever considered how much of our time is devoted to  feeding our bodies?               I would not know how to calculate the time that involves. It would vary from person to person and from day to day. But I suspect all of us would be amazed at what percentage of our time is devoted to feeding our bodies.             As we reflect on all this, there are two things that we should also keep in mind. One is that there are many people in our […]

         Have you ever noticed that in this world, there are all kinds of things that take hold of us?  Some married couples know what I mean.  When you were noticeably young, you began to hear, and to see, and to learn about love.  In your teens, you began to experiment with it, dating and maybe dating one person steadily.  Then there came a time when you fell in love; and either suddenly or slowly, that love took hold of your life.  Now, you have been married for many years; and you do not possess so much […]

          The accounts that we have of Jesus’ life make it abundantly clear that Jesus was a man of prayer.  The first thing he did after His baptism was pray.  The last thing that he did before His death was pray.  And in between, there are so many references to His personal prayer life.          For example, the gospel tells us that rising early in the morning, Jesus went off into a lonely place in the desert; there He was absorbed in prayer.”  The context in which that statement is made clearly indicates […]