Mike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada HomepageMike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada

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Prisoner #16670

Photo Credit: www.monasteryicons.com
Photo Credit: www.monasteryicons.com

St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of my heroes… so every year I “bump” this post in his honor.

If you’ve ever studied World War II, you’ve probably heard of Auschwitz.  Auschwitz was initially a concentration camp that later became the largest of the Nazi death camps, where almost 1.1 million people -mostly Jewish- died.

One of these 1.1 million was a Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe (prisoner #16670.)  His story is an incredible one of loving God and neighbor, and is one I often like to share. [Read more…] about Prisoner #16670

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The Last Four Things

"Fra Angelico 009" by Fra Angelico (circa 1395–1455) - The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fra_Angelico_009.jpg#/media/File:Fra_Angelico_009.jpg
“The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelico (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) 

Let’s get the bad news out of the way right off the bat: we’re all going to die.  While we may not think about it very often, death is inevitable.  It often takes a personal brush with death or the illness or loss of a loved one to make us even consider our own mortality.  Whether you fear it or would be willing to face it with courage, you can’t avoid death.  When Christians talk about death, we are speaking of the end of our earthly lives… the moment where an individual’s soul separates from his or her body (which will decay while awaiting resurrection at Jesus’ return.)

But if we all die, what happens next?  In Catholic tradition, death is the first of the “last four things” – death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell.   [Read more…] about The Last Four Things

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YouCat: The Christian Profession of Faith

At Mass each Sunday, following the homily, we are invited to stand and profess the Creed.  In Canada, it is customary to recite the Apostle’s Creed – the shorter, older form of the creed which is thought to be the summary of faith of the Apostles.  This Creed is professed in many other Christian Churches (including the line “I believe in… the holy catholic Church” – the word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’) – and even inspired a Rich Mullins song.  The longer from, the Nicene Creed  developed over the first four centuries of Christianity with the major councils – helping to clarify Christian beliefs we take for granted about the Trinity and the Divinity of Christ.

What these Creeds do is take the story of our faith – unfolded with love and care throughout the Scriptures – and unfolds them as a clear, condensed formula of our faith.  [Read more…] about YouCat: The Christian Profession of Faith

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Support a Catholic Speaker Month: Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio

This post is my contribution to Brandon Vogt’s “Support a Catholic Speaker Month“, which is trying to raise awareness on some of the great speakers who travel North America helping support all the rest of us in ministry, and in building up the Church.  If you follow the link, you can read about some of the other great speakers who are out there – some of whom may be speaking at an event near you… I know that Jackie Francois is coming to the Holy Trinity Parish Youth Rally in early February…

In early July, Anaphora had the privilege of providing music at the annual Catholic Family Life Conference at Lac Ste Anne, AB, a conference I once attended as a teen, and over the last few years have served in nearly every capacity possible (youth, children’s, and music ministry, as well as being an occasional speaker for the youth tents.)  This year, the keynote speaker was Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio who lives just outside of Dallas, Texas with his wife and five children.  He brought with him two of his children, twin sons, Anthony and Marcellino jr, who spent the weekend speaking to the youth. [Read more…] about Support a Catholic Speaker Month: Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio