Our souls have been longing for the Lord like the longing for a loved one who is at a distance from us. We can use technology to remain close but nothing can compare with being present with that person and actually be able to touch them.

The Chaldean News: How can our faith guide us during this pandemic?
Bishop Francis: It is the way we deal with the everyday and the small things that help us to deal with the big things. A lot of people are now trying to get a grasp with dealing with the pandemic, but it is how you deal with the small things – how you wake up, how you pray – how you move to God. You don’t move mountains in one swoop, but every little stone, one at a time.

The Christmas season is one of the most exciting times as a priest. It’s so beautiful to see the community come together, in faith, to celebrate the birth of Christ. Churches are full, mass times are expanded to capacity, choirs are singing hymns of joy and hope, and people are filled with wonder as to how the birth of one child moves the world in such a magnificent way.

One of my favorite things in the priesthood is the opportunity to work with the youth. For me, the seed of faith was planted in a powerful way at CLC St. Thomas, a high school youth group. Although that seed did not flourish until after my college years at Michigan State, I can’t imagine what my life would be like without my high school youth group experience.

“Love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).  We read these words from St. Paul and it automatically stirs our souls and draws us into reflection: “do I love money?” All of us certainly need money to survive, we all have money, and we all use money, but do we love money? Financial stress is one of the top reasons for divorce and society has always judged a person by their wealth. Even the common narrative about the Church is often: “the Church is a business” and “the Church just wants money.” 

Distraction comes quite easy to me. It lingers in all shapes and at all times. Even when in quiet prayer, it finds me. Sometimes it hides under the guise of a ticking clock on the wall. While I should be focusing on my prayer, all I hear is “tick, tick, tick”. Distraction can even manifest itself in social settings. While in the middle of a meal with friends, I feel my gaze shift off them and onto the TV playing highlights from a game. Even if it was a team I had zero interest in (say one with a Wolverine mascot), I’ll still pay attention to the replays instead of my friends. In these instances, I lose out on a fruitful conversations and the chance to delve deeper into friendships. I can’t help but feel that many of us are battling with this vice.

At the invitation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Louis Raphael Sako, the annual Chaldean Synod was held at the Patriarchal summer headquarters, Ankawa, Erbil, Iraq, from 3 to 10 August 2019, attended by Bishops from the dioceses of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, America, Canada and Australia. After the opening ceremony, the assembled Bishops sent a letter to His Holiness Pope Francis, affirming their love, appreciation and gratitude for supporting the Chaldean Church and Iraqi people. They closed by hoping that the visit of Pope Francis to Iraq will take place in 2020.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, as summer comes to a close and we prepare ourselves for the first day of classes, we typically pre­pare mentally. Whether it is the first day of middle school or your first year in high school or your first year in college, you also need to prepare on a spiri­tual level.

If I asked a question to­day about what kind of journey this life is tak­ing you on or where are you headed to, what kind of an­swers do you think I would get? I’m sure the answers would be very interesting depending on what life is throwing at people. So, re­gardless of where life is tak­ing you or what you have been through in your own journey, our ultimate jour­ney should be the journey to heaven, which is perfect eternal union with God that is the definition of heaven!

Whether your faith is the size of a mustard seed or as large as a giant sequoia, summer activities can fizzle out a family’s faith life.  Here are some practical ways to infuse, inspire, and increase your family’s Catholic faith in your summer “to do” list.

The Lord is risen! These words are the central belief of the Catholic faith and without them there is no Christianity. It is because of the Resurrection that we can say we are Catholic. No other faith claims that their founder rose from the dead. In Acts 4:33 we read “with great power the apostles bore witness to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all.”

By the time you read this article, the Lent­en season may be at its midpoint and many of us have forgotten, neglect­ed, or given up most of our Lenten promises. Here we should be asking ourselves an important question: why? Is it because we always overpromise and underde­liver? Is it because of our hectic lifestyles that make it impossible to keep a com­mitment? Or is it because of a situa­tion unique to each of us? I person­ally think the problem is not due to a circumstance or a lifestyle as much as it is with our inability to see the bigger picture.

What is the role of the father in today’s family? Most of the people reading this will say “to provide for his wife and children and to ensure their financial future.” That statement is absolutely true. It is one of the roles of the father in the family, but is it the most im­portant role?

Congratulations! You are engaged! You finally met the one! Now it’s time to start planning. Do you go with roses or lilies? What color scheme do we want, if any? Which limo company and photographer do we go with? Should we get married at that church your brother got married at or that one my friend chose?

Has choosing a church been di­minished to an item on the wedding to-do list?

Wow, January 2019 – time again to make those New Year’s resolutions and prob­ably for many of us, these are top on your list: lose weight, do better financially, take more vacations, get a bet­ter job, get organized, and spend more time with fam­ily. I’m sure all of us have had one of those on our list and in reality, how long do we really keep them (if we even start them at all)?

Throughout our daily life, we encoun­ter many people; we treat these people based on a certain perception we have developed for each one of them. These per­ceptions are built upon some common concep­tions or misconceptions. For example, when we encounter a rich person, we commonly think of a proud person; when we encounter an educated person, we commonly think of a sophisticated person; and when we encounter a religious person, we commonly think of a naïve person.

I don’t steal. I don’t cheat. I don’t kill. I don’t do bad things so, why do I need to go to church? I’m a good person!

First of all, let’s get something clear, you’re not supposed to do any of these things. These are all part of the natural moral law, “which is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man that is created by God.” (CCC 1954)