Every night since we’ve been married, my husband crawls into bed, turns toward me, and says: “Thank you so much for everything you did for us today.” After a couple years, I asked Peter if he felt obligated to thank me every night. “No not at all!” he replied “You mean so much to all […]
I remember the deep frustration at one point years ago when a surly teen, despite having been conceived with joy and raised with devoted love—decided he wouldn’t accompany us to Sunday Mass. Confronted with his obstinacy, my larger disquiet was how his behavior would affect the younger children. While wringing my hands, I confided my […]
Today, December 8th, the Church would observe the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This year the feast is transferred to Monday the 9th, giving precedence to the Second Sunday of Advent. In my experience, the Immaculate Conception is one of the most misunderstood teachings of the Church. Today, I’d like to address three common misconceptions […]
Time and Eternity The truly desolate And pathetic sort, Are those who of Earth Believe Elysian Fields they can create In time, to quell their fears. Not so, not so, For what would heaven be, If on earth everything, Here, Was granted Free To thee? Stacy Peterson November 12, 2014
As she approached the hall where the wedding celebration was to be held, Mary was attentive to the individual people within the groups swirling around the festivities. She was aware, although not particularly conscious, of a certain deference that was accorded her and her son as they quietly made their way to their places. She […]
Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus (Ave Maria Press, 2014) is written by a religious sister who has experienced conversion in a very dramatic fashion, but this book is for anyone who is wounded, suffers from addiction, or feels unloved and/or unlovable. Sr. Miriam James Heidland, a member […]
2 Pt 3:8-14 We await new heavens and a new earth Wasted time is not a prized commodity in American society. We are a people ruled by the calendar and the clock. “Time is money,” we say, because time is to be filled with purposeful controlled activity which is to be productive of things that […]
Advent is a time of joyful anticipation. For someone even bigger than Santa Claus is coming to town. The human race has been waiting a long time for his next and final visit. Actually, it waited a long time for the first visit. Things had gone awry quite early in the history of the human […]
At Wednesday’s General Audience on Dec.3, Pope Francis’s catechesis focused on “ the hope that fruits of dialogue will flow be it in our relations with our Orthodox brothers, be it in those with Muslims, be it in the path to peace among peoples”, as a result of his apostolic visit to Turkey. While most […]
It’s amazing that the show was nearly not broadcast. I speak of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” — a show that, for reasons I don’t understand, holds more power over me with every passing year. The show has a very simple premise: Too much commercialization can take the meaning out of Christmas. As it goes, Charlie […]
What could be more American than hard work? We are a country of people who believe in meritocracy, in striving to achieve The American Dream. Hard work traces back to our roots – much of it comes from the felt moral heritage of the Protestant Work Ethic. Yet, sadly, today’s American “hard work” is a hollow echo of […]
A week ago I received a message from a distressed family writing about a loved one in the final stages of living. The members of this family were informed by hospice care that their dying relative, a 95-year-old father/grandfather with dementia who still recognizes the family and talks with them at times, had come down […]
We were made male and female.
Before reading Anne Costa’s book Embracing Edith Stein: Wisdom for Women from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, I knew who Edith Stein was but did not really know a lot about her. She had figured into other things I have read and I had connected with some of the passages quoted from her writings. […]
When El Salvador’s turn came up to be assessed by fellow countries on its human rights record, twelve countries criticized its legal protections for unborn children and urged it to permit legal abortion. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a process for countries to hold each other accountable for the promises they made by signing […]
One of the towering figures of the turbulent period which culminated in the creation of the Church of England was St. Thomas More. He was born in 1478, just before the Protestant schism began in Europe, and was a prominent British lawyer and statesman who became a trusted adviser to King Henry VIII. As a […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11; Psalm 85:9-14; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8) Advent, A Time to Prepare the Way for the Coming of the Lord He will prepare your way. (Mark 1:2) Clearly, John the Baptist was a mighty man of God. He was an ambassador called to prepare the […]
Advent – Prayer in Waiting Advent is upon my soul. Divine gift of season, I listen for the cry of a First Born Son, Begotten before Time begun, And enfleshed in the Virgin’s womb. I come to her, Who is the Ark, Your Mercy Seat. Kneeling beside her, In these pregnant moments, I lay my […]
*Editors Note: Over the next few weeks William Bornhoft and myself will be in a dialogue over the role of traditionalists within the Church today.* Mr. Bornhoft, I read your article “The Latin Mass is Not the Key to the New Evangelization” with interest, and it must also be admitted, with a bit of bewilderment. […]
Something heard very often among people is that they will deal with their faith when they are older, when it is time to start a family or when they have more time. Church can wait, prayer can wait, and practicing virtues (especially charity!) can wait. When reading the audience of Pope Francis the Wednesday before […]
Farmers pause in their fields at midday and bow their heads in prayer. [i] Businessmen and women overhear the ringing bells during their lunch break in the downtown business district. And neighbors to Catholic Churches may hear the church bells toll at six, noon, and six as an invitation to pray the traditional devotion of […]
