ST. RAYMUND NONNATUS was born in Catalonia, in the year 1204, and was descended of a gentleman’s family of a small fortune. In his childhood he seemed to find pleasure only in his devotions and serious duties. His father perceiving in him an inclination to a religious state, took him from school, and sent him […]
In Your School of Love (Tan Books, 2015), veteran homeschooler and mother of nine Agnes Penny hopes “to encourage homeschoolers to try a more relaxed, more natural, less stressful style of learning.” While maintaining that homeschooling is a natural outgrowth of our parenting, “another way to spend time and share experiences with our children,” she […]
This lovely flower of sanctity, the first canonized Saint of the New World, was born at Lima in 1586. She was christened Isabel, but the beauty of her infant face earned for her the title of Rose, which she ever after bore. As a child, while still in the cradle, her silence under a painful […]
St. John the Baptist was called by God to be the forerunner of His divine Son. In order to preserve his innocence spotless, and to improve the extraordinary graces which he had received, he was directed by the Holy Ghost to lead an austere and contemplative life in the wilderness, in the continual exercises of […]
Belief in God is rather widespread, at least in America. Various surveys show that over 90% of Americans “believe in God.” But belief and faith are not quite the same thing. When many people say “I believe in God” they mean that they believe that God exists, that “there is a God” somewhere up there. […]
Pitter patter the little feet came running from around the corner at the sound of my voice. Being a grandmother is the next best thing to being a mom. While my husband of thirty-five years is always happy to see me, I might think he was after something if he ran to me every time […]
”Happy those who feast on wisdom and savor her knowledge, She will nourish and refresh them.” –Happy Those Who Feast on Wisdom, Hymn for the Office of Readings, 28th August Who is your favorite saint? Mine is St. Augustine (Hippo), whose feast day is today. Rather than giving his biography and conversion story, I thought it […]
ST. AUGUSTINE was born in 354, at Tagaste in Africa. He was brought up in the Christian faith, but without receiving baptism. An ambitious school-boy of brilliant talents and violent passions, he early lost both his faith and his innocence. He persisted in his irregular life until he was thirty-two. Meanwhile his mother, St. Monica, […]
MONICA, the mother of St. Augustine, was born in 332. After a girlhood of singular innocence and piety, she was given in marriage to Patritius, a pagan. She at once devoted herself to his conversion, praying for him always, and winning his reverence and love by the holiness of her life and her affectionate forbearance. She […]
ST. JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS was born in Aragon, in 1556. When only five years old, he led a troop of children through the streets to find the devil and kill him. He became a priest, and was engaged in various reforms. Once he heard a voice saying, “Go to Rome,” and saw a vision of many […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8 2nd Reading: James 1:17-18,21-22,27 Responsorial: Psalm 15:2-5 Gospel: Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23 The Importance of Being Hearers and Doers of the Word of God Be doers of the word and not hearers only. (James 1:22) In the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of […]
This link is for the 8th of 12 videos produced by the Center For Medical Progress. This one features baby parts buyer StemExpress Founder and CEO, Cate Dyer, saying they want 50 MORE fetal livers PER WEEK. And as they say, Planned Parenthood is a good source because of their volume of abortions. It is […]
Zephyrinus, a native of Rome, succeeded Victor in the pontificate, in the year 202, in which Severus raised the fifth most bloody persecution against the Church, which continued not for two years only, but until the death of that emperor in 211. Under this furious storm this holy pastor was the support and comfort of […]
By now, every Catholic — and a whole bunch of non-Catholics — are aware the Church faces a vocations crisis. Yes, we need more women and men discerning a call to join the religious life and the priesthood. It’s important that adults in the pews encourage such discernment as a legitimate, honorable and holy life […]
Human beings have always had an extraordinary capacity for self-delusion. We justify horrible things by telling ourselves that we are acting in the service of a noble cause, or by dehumanizing the victims of our unjust actions. History is littered with the corpses of innocent men and women who died in the name of their […]
Manliness. Thanks to websites like the Art of Manliness, Catholic Gentlemen, Whiskey Catholic and many others, the internet is a buzz with discussion of what makes a man a man. What traits, virtues, and abilities must a man exhibit to be considered a true man, and not an adolescent adult? Is he judged by his […]
The mother of Louis told him she would rather see him die than commit a mortal sin, and he never forgot her words. King of France at the age of twelve, he made the defence of God’s honor the aim of his life. Before two years, he had crushed the Albigensian heretics, and forced them […]
For over two decades, the UN has maintained a compromise: abortion is not a human right, but where it is legal, it should be safe – at least, for the mother. Planned Parenthood has long fought to erode legal protections for the unborn, but recent events reveal that the global abortion provider has little regard […]
“Judge not, lest ye be judged” is among the most frequently-uttered passages in the Bible, particularly by those who wish to shut down any discussion on some objectively immoral behavior. Even so, this opening verse from Matthew 7:1-3 is also among the Scriptures’ most misrepresented and, consequently, misunderstood passages. As verses 2 and 3 conclude, […]
For generations it’s been easy to live as a Christian in America. We have lived in a culture that largely assumed and supported Christianity or at least Christian moral principles. Even the Deists among our Founding Fathers operated within the structural framework and assumptions that undergird Christianity. Over the past few decades, we have seen […]
St. Bartholomew was one of the twelve who were called to the apostolate by our blessed Lord Himself. Several learned interpreters of the Holy Scripture take this apostle to have been the same as Nathaniel, a native of Cana, in Galilee, a doctor in the Jewish law, and one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, […]
Daddy By ten, I thought “paranoid schizophrenic” meant “father”. And “son” came to mean surviving. But as I got older, there was power in saying words That made the scar on your forehead flame red. But sometimes I felt moments of goodness. I was your son. You demanded I look at you and not cry […]
St. Philip Benizi was born in Florence, Italy on the Feast of the Assumption, 1233. That same day the Order of Servites was founded. As an infant at the breast, Philip broke out into speech at the sight of these new religious, and begged his mother to give them alms. Amidst all the temptations of […]
SHE DIED ANYWAY. Decay in the marrow. Radiation robbed her radiance. Fragile peals of thunder protected summer showers that watered her flowers. If the thunder don’t get you then the lightning will. Life submits to death. My parents, Moose and Sylvia, made an odd couple, like an elephant and a tickbird. He was Oscar. She […]
