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Below is the most recent email.
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Crowding out the Bad…
With the Good
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Dear Friends in Christ,
My first pastor after ordination was Father Jack Hughes. He grew up in Providence in a big Irish Catholic family. It was clearly a home of devotion and piety. He once mentioned that his mom read a portion of the catechism every night before she went to bed.
I was reminded of that simple practice the other week when we heard the parable of the sower and the seeds. Our Lord says, “The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away” (Mt 13:19).
The devil steals the faith of those who receive it without understanding it. That is, who don’t nourish and cultivate the seed of faith by reading and thinking about it. Thus the verse points to the importance of spiritual reading – even if it’s just a little bit of catechism every day. Without the nourishment that comes from such reading, our faith weakens and becomes prey for the evil one.
We need spiritual reading because we need to think about our faith. If our faith is not thoughtful and thought about, then it becomes mere emotion or pure will. Neither is particularly healthy or attractive. When we think about our faith, and nourish that thought by good reading, then we make it more our own, more integrated into our hearts and minds.
Fulton Sheen once observed that it’s not enough to get rid of bad thoughts. We need to crowd them out with the good. That rests on the truth that our minds are meant to hold something. Our minds are constantly assaulted and filled with the drivel, impurity, and blasphemy of a pagan culture. Spiritual reading fights against that by leaving less room in our minds for the bad.
And less time. A commitment to spiritual reading will lead to less time available for the rot that comes from social media and doomscrolling.
We should strive for 10-15 minutes of spiritual reading daily. The goal is not to finish the book and get to the end of the story. We know the end of the story. The purpose of spiritual reading is to fill our minds with sacred images, stories, and doctrine to shape our thoughts and sentiments. So that we know the truth and desire the good.
The New Testament is the preferred text for spiritual reading. Some years ago, we posted a list online. Here are some highlights (to save you the difficulty of clicking):
The Sanctifier by Luis Martinez
This Tremendous Lover by Dom Eugene Boylan
Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen
Christ is Passing By by Saint Josemaria Escriva
Come, Creator Spirit by Raniero Cantalamessa
Any books by Jacques Phillipe and Wilfrid Stinison
Updates…
Where in the world is the IHM Conference Room? – We’ve started announcing events being hosted in the IHM Conference Room…but without explaining what and where that is. So, here we go…
For years we’ve referred to the “Knecht Conference Room.” Problem is, there’s no such thing. Our gym was built in honor of longtime parishioner, Joe Knecht. It’s officially the Joseph P. Knecht Gymnasium. Somehow, over the years, the conference room took on the name Knecht and the gym lost it. To recover the original intention, we have renamed the so-called Knecht Conference Room the IHM Conference Room – in honor of the Sisters who have served Saint James for over a century. This helps restore the real name of the gym and the memory of the good man for whom it was named.
The Church Springs Eternal: How Christ has Guided the Church Through Over Two Millenium – Our summer seminarian, Tyler Boreani, guides us through Church History from Apostolic Times to the Modern Age over the course of three sessions. Beginning tonight, he will dive into the evangelical reach of the apostles, the persecution of the Early Church, the Scholastic Period (Middle Ages), the Crusades, the Protestant Revolution, and much more. Each lecture will be followed with a period of Q&A and discussion.
- July 22nd, 7:00pm, IHM Conference Room
- July 29th, 7:00pm, IHM Conference Room
- August 5th, 7:00pm, IHM Conference Room
Mass and Mimosas – The 830am Mass this Saturday the 25th will be a special Mass to celebrate the feast of Saint James with treats to follow outside on the lawn afterwards!
Science Night @ the Giving Garden is tonight, from 6-8 pm. Parents and kids (target 12 yrs and under) are invited to an evening of hands-on exploration and experimentation while learning about our garden ecosystem and God’s grandeur in action.
The Catholics Vote No campaign invites you to pledge to vote No on the proposed Virginia constitutional amendments that would codify unrestricted abortion and gay marriage.
Revenge Humor
Everybody laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well, they’re not laughing now
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Scalia