Doug McManaman is a Deacon and a Religion and Philosophy teacher at Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy in Markham, Ontario, Canada. He is currently the President of the Canadian Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. He maintains the following web site for his students: A Catholic Philosophy and Theology Resource Page.
Contact: dmcmanaman@sympatico.ca
Website:http://fmmh.ycdsb.ca/teachers/fmmh_mcmanaman/pages/index.html
I thought, yes, that’s what a priest is; he is not a social worker, he is not a religious therapist or psychologist, he is a steward of the mysteries of God, in particular the mystery of the Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.
Date posted: 2010-09-04
God is like water; He seeks the lowest place.
Date posted: 2010-09-04
The best thing we can do for others is to allow the fire within us to enlarge and burn so brightly that others may be drawn by the light and the heat, so that they may be inspired to seek the Lord and find him.
Date posted: 2010-09-04
Had Nathan allowed himself to be overcome by his fear, had he loved his own life more than he loved David’s soul, he wouldn’t have said a thing, he would have shut right up and fabricated some nonsense about tolerance, patience and the principle of gradualism, and the result would have been that David would not have repented, and he would have died in his sin. But Nathan loved the Lord and loved truth and loved justice more than he loved himself.
Date posted: 2010-09-04
"Why do we have to go to Mass?" is one of the most frequently asked questions that students address to their religion teachers, and recently I received an email from a former student asking for an article that he could share with his friends that answers that very question."
Date posted: 2010-08-28
The narrow gate is none other than Christ. He is the gate that leads to eternal life. And he is indeed a narrow gate. The word 'narrow' suggests a zeroing in on a well defined point. The opposite, of course, is broad and wide.
Date posted: 2010-08-24
This world is not the kingdom, no matter how wonderful our life is here. The kingdom of God does not pass away, it is eternal. But just as the sun is too bright for us to gaze at for any great length of time, so too the kingdom of God exceeds the capacity of our soul. Our souls have to be prepared for the kingdom of God.
Date posted: 2010-08-12
We cannot possess joy. It possesses us. We are in it. And there are not many joyful people around, because many do not know where the key to joy can be found. But the key to a life of joy is to relinquish the pursuit of happiness.
Date posted: 2010-07-23
The more we expand, the greater will be our capacity to receive God into ourselves, just as the bigger the cup, the more water it can hold. A life lived only for itself, a person who has not loved anyone, only himself, renders himself incapable of receiving the life of God within himself, just as a cup that is sealed with a lid cannot receive any water into itself.
Date posted: 2010-05-08
I want to say a few words to any nurses who might be here. I hope you are aware of the great dignity and nobility of your vocation. Because God entered into the worst human suffering, He is present in the very depths of the sufferings of your patients, and so when you love them, and are patient with them, when you smile at them, and are kind to them, you are loving God Himself.
Date posted: 2010-04-04
If we were to select one reading that expresses what the good news of the gospel really is in all its mystery, we can do no better than the parable of the prodigal son. It is simply the heart of the good news. This is what our God is all about: absolute mercy.
Date posted: 2010-03-19
The Lord loves a good game: “Unless you change and become as little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Children love to play, and He calls us to be children so that we will play. That’s why the lives of the saints are so exciting. We find the saints in the midst of great battles, and they are exciting battles. They persisted and they fought with great courage and tremendous wit. The tougher the game, the cleverer one has to be. And that’s what makes the game so memorable and so exciting to play.
Date posted: 2010-03-08
Christ came to enter into human suffering, to fill it with his light, to make it holy; for he loves us, and every human life will be a life of suffering, some far more than others. The Son of God joins a human nature and enters into human suffering in order to keep us company in our suffering, and there are certain people in this world, special friends of his, whom he invites to keep him company in his suffering.
Date posted: 2010-02-21
Our life is not for this world, anymore than the life of a fetus is ultimately for the womb. The womb is temporary, it is a preparation for another world. What Christ is saying today is woe to you who spend your life evading suffering and the works of charity, evading the long and difficult work of preparing your soul for the moment of death, woe to you who sell your soul for the sake of pleasing your employer or your peers, so that they speak well of you, so that they like you and laugh with you, eat and drink with you.
Date posted: 2010-02-15
When we pray for a person or a situation dominated by evil, we call the attention of the saints who belong to the light, we call the attention of their luminous gaze to this person or situation. We make them present to this person or situation. We, as it were, flash a light onto it, and if this is a situation in which darkness has a hold, we cause great discomfort to the spirit of evil by our prayers.
Date posted: 2010-01-25
If we hold that Scripture is the word of God, we need only ask ourselves who it was that put together the canon of the New Testament in the first place. Or better yet, who wrote it? The gospels and epistles all came from the Church.
Date posted: 2010-01-09