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Politics and Religion

2025-03-29T13:05:31-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Our Pope of Mercy

Last updated on: March 29, 2025 at 1:05 pm By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Pope John Paul II is the “Pope of mercy.” This comes through very clearly in his 1980 encyclical Dives in Misericordia. Pope John Paul II practiced mercy throughout his life. He lived through two totalitarian regimes yet never learned to hate. Six months after publishing his encyclical on mercy, two bullets from attempted assassin Ali Agca’s gun nearly ended his life. He showed his mercy was real when he visited the would-be murderer in jail and pardoned him from the... Read more

Education and Religion

2025-03-23T05:00:29-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Finding Holy Ground Every Day

Last updated on: March 23, 2025 at 5:00 am By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Our recent Duke Catholic Center mission trip to Cancun was both a service trip and a pilgrimage to holy ground. The first thing we did was visit the shrine of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots. This particular title of Mary, the Mother of God, has come into vogue under the papacy of Pope Francis. While he was studying for his doctorate in Germany, he was able to visit the original chapel in Regensburg and afterward took the devotion back to... Read more

2025-03-07T12:23:11-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God’s Voice or My Thoughts? 3 Ways to Discern in Prayer

Last updated on: March 7, 2025 at 12:23 pm By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Perhaps you have been in prayer and wondered whether God is talking to you or if you are just supplying “God’s voice” with your own thoughts. If so, you are not alone. One of the earliest challenges in building a spiritual life is coming to terms with the fact that we undoubtedly will interject our own thoughts and feelings into prayer. To prevent confusion, let’s discuss three ways we can tell if a thought comes from God or from our... Read more

2025-02-28T17:28:37-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Lent Unlocked: 3 Powerful Ways to Grow Closer to God

Last updated on: February 28, 2025 at 5:28 pm By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Jesus went into the desert to pray (Mt. 4:1-11). There, He faced the Devil’s temptations, fought against them, and emerged victorious showing us what it means to overcome spiritual trials. He chose to experience human weakness so that, in our hardest moments, we could find comfort in Him. As we begin Lent, we are invited to walk this same path through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, drawing closer to Christ. Lent is a forty-day season of repentance, renewal, and preparation for... Read more

General Christian

Relationships and Religion

2025-02-28T17:47:40-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Power of Words: Do They Create or Reveal Reality?

Last updated on: February 28, 2025 at 5:47 pm By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Do words shape reality, or do they reveal it? In a world flooded with media, political spin, and online debates, the way we employ language carries enormous weight. If words create reality, we risk losing the truth entirely. But if language reveals reality, we must use it wisely, ensuring it reflects what is real, not just what we wish to be true. What Creating Words Might Look Like It makes me think of a scene from The Voyage of the... Read more

2025-02-21T15:10:42-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Turning the Other Cheek: Strength not Weakness

Last updated on: February 21, 2025 at 3:10 pm By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Are Christians supposed to be nice? Is that what it means to turn the other cheek? Sometimes, we can understand that to be a Christian is to be a doormat. We think that to be Christian means to be nice and to be tolerant of all others. While today’s Gospel (Lk. 6:27-38) might seem to support this idea, it is a misunderstanding of Christ’s teaching. Christian love goes beyond niceness to a deeper call of sacrificial love and truth. Ancient... Read more

2025-02-13T22:28:06-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Derry Girl Who Became a Saint

Last updated on: February 13, 2025 at 10:28 pm By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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What does it take to become a saint? Sister Clare’s life gives us some clues. I first heard of Sister Clare Crockett while traveling throughout Germany, promoting my religious congregation, the Legionaries of Christ. I heard about a young Irish woman who beamed with the joy and love of Christ that was welling inside her. The idea of meeting her was always an intriguing invitation, but I never quite got the chance. Beginning the Journey towards Sainthood This past November,... Read more

Contemplative

2025-02-13T06:35:03-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Boredom, De Foucauld, and the Greatest Show on Earth

Last updated on: February 13, 2025 at 6:35 am By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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P.T. Barnum was a man who seemed allergic to boredom. The musical “The Greatest Showman” tells the story of his resulting rise from rags to riches. Despite his adventurous and boisterous life, even he faced monotony at times. I am particularly struck by the song in the musical “Never Enough,” which explores his yearning for something that feels just out of reach. Wanting to escape an uninteresting existence, he clings to a fragile sense of happiness. I’m trying to hold... Read more

Evangelical

Faith and Mental Health

2025-02-06T11:52:03-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Creatures of the Same God, Equal in Dignity

Last updated on: February 6, 2025 at 11:52 am By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Jesus preached salvation to all. This is the basis of Catholic teaching that all humans are equal in dignity. This reality shapes the way that saints throughout the ages have seen the world. This is clear in the case of St. Therese of Lisieux, the well-known Carmelite nun of 19th-century France. Although she lived confined to a cloister, she felt at the same time a profound missionary impulse. At one point, she decided to pray for a man whom... Read more

Evangelical

2025-02-06T11:51:56-08:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Raskolnikov, Ezra, and the Freedom of the Gospel

Last updated on: February 6, 2025 at 11:51 am By Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Raskolnikov, the main character from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, wants to experience freedom. He is arrogant, indecisive, and young. The young man feels trapped by his circumstances and decides to take action to improve his situation. The indecisive young man kills his landlady and her sister and spends the rest of the novel trying to justify his actions to himself. Although he is seeking freedom from poverty and oppression, his unfettered actions bring him anguish instead. He lets the spirit... Read more

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