Brad Bursa

Practical Wisdom (Part IV) I struggle to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. My mind drifts and I become robotic, lifeless. Recently, I shared this with a Benedictine monk and asked for advice in response St. Benedict’s call for our minds to be in harmony with our voices as we pray the Divine Office (see…

A Brief Catechesis on CCC, §§355–384 Note: This is a slightly modified catechesis I wrote for the Stella Maris Become Catholic program. What does it mean that human beings are made in God’s “image and likeness?” We are dealing, here, with a question of anthropology. Who are we as human beings? What is a human…

No space between load and limit = no time for divine appointments. “I have no margin.” The thought flickered through my mind. Ironically, I was rushing through John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry when I came across this passage: It’s been said that margin is “the space between our load and our limits.”…

Considerations on the Topic by Ratzinger, Pieper, Baars, and Schmemann Prefatory Note: In a previous post, I announced that I was beginning a year-long effort to articulate the gospel according to Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. This is the third installment in that series. The Gospel supposedly brings joy, but what is joy, anyway? What does this…

A Brief Catechesis on CCC, §§232-237, 268-274 Note: This is a slightly modified catechesis I wrote for the Stella Maris Become Catholic program. “Daddy, throw this ball up to the moon.” My three-year-old daughter didn’t ask me to do this. She told me to do it. For her, at least at a certain point in…