At 0227 hours on the morning of June 6, 1944, Lieutenant Robert Mathias saw the red light flash above the door of his C47 “Dakota” aircraft, signaling his men to get ready to parachute into a terrifying blackness that was streaked with machine-gun tracers and punctuated by exploding rounds from four-barrel 20-millimeter Flakvierling-38 anti-aircraft guns. […]
“If we wish to discover in all its richness the profound relationship between the Church and the Eucharist, we cannot neglect Mary, Mother and model of the Church…Mary can guide us toward this most holy sacrament because she herself has a profound relationship with it.” (Blessed Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia) At the […]
Somewhere, in the recesses of my consciousness, I was aware that it was morning. But the drug of sleep was heavy upon me… and I didn’t much care. My head was lead on my pillow and my face turned away from the alarm clock. Even if I had seen the time… even if it had […]
A writer who practices his art at home does not want to turn his place of residence into a library warehouse. And so, every so often, in order to maintain a dynamic equilibrium between acquisitions and dispersals, he must sift through his material and separate the transitory from the enduring. It is a practice akin […]
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Exodus 24:3-8: Psalm 116:12-13,15-18; Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16,22-26) Being Transformed by the Eucharist “Take; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22). Have you ever had the experience of recalling a past event, or a person […]
We are all called to holiness. Sometimes this can seem like an impossible call, especially when things get tough. And, at times the path to heaven can look like a fork in the road. What to do? If you read the lives of the saints, you’ll discover that they’re all so different that no one […]
American intellectual Will Durant’s The Lessons of History—co-written with wife Ariel and published in 1968, when the Soviet Union posed a threat to the United States—still offers insightful lessons, especially concerning American-Muslim relations. In the chapter titled “History and War,” the Durants posit some hypothetical speeches and approaches concerning war. First, an imaginary U.S. president […]
Don’t let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love. ~ Saint Josemaria Escriva, from “The Way.” Danielle Rizzo is 13 years old and still cannot speak. Nine years ago, when she was diagnosed with autism, her parents were devastated. “In the […]
Thirty-plus years ago, during my first semester of college, I found out that my student loans didn’t come through due to a glitch in the paper work. I dropped out of college and joined the army. To be honest, at the time I wasn’t a serious student. Nevertheless, I thought that by dropping out I […]
A bill to outlaw abortions based on a child’s gender received a strong majority of votes in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday but failed to gain the two-thirds margin of support needed for passage. The House voted 246-168 in favor of H.R. 3541, known as the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA). 226 Republicans and 20 […]
As a therapist, people often ask me, “What makes men happy?” Some believe it’s a happy marriage, a successful career, or a strong relationship with God. I say it’s all of these! However, they must be kept in the right order. I believe the secret for a happy life for men is having one’s priorities […]
Every once in a while, I watch a movie that I hate. U.N. Me is just such a movie. I hated watching it but I have to recommend that others see this movie. Why? Because I believe that even if the truth is brutally hard to digest, it’s better than ignorance. I hated what was […]
How many times have we met with dear friends who are distraught about a family member, perhaps a child who has left the faith or a family crisis hinging on poor decisions? After looking at the details, exploring the possible harms, and coming to grips with what is at stake, the conversation usually ends with […]
When speaking to the broader public—as opposed to what they tell each other—pro-abortionists will often feign an attitude that they, too, understand that abortion is serious business and not to be trivialized. They don’t mean it for a half-second, of course, but for public consumption it helps take the edge off their fanaticism. I thought […]
Catholic Philosopher Chick Makes Her Début by Rebecca Bratten Weiss and Regina Doman Front Royal, VA: Chesterton Press, 2012 Catholic Philosopher Chick Makes Her Début is the intelligent Catholic woman’s beach read. This book is so much fun that you won’t want to put it down until you have turned the last page with a […]
In How to Read a Film, author James Monaco writes that movies “have drastically changed the way we perceive the world… yet we all too naturally accept the vast amounts of information they convey to us in massive doses without questioning how they tell us what they tell.” When it comes to movies, how we […]
Pope Benedict is said to be “saddened” by the discovery that one of his closest aides, Paolo Gabriele, 46, his valet or butler, has betrayed his trust, copying and disseminating secret Vatican documents from the Pope’s own apartments. Some in Rome are concerned that the emotional strain of these events could harm the health of […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40; Romans 8:14-17; Psalm 33:4-6,9,18-20,22; Matthew 28:16-20) Immersing Ourselves in the Truths of the Trinity and Proclaiming it to Others Go, therefore… (Matthew 28:19) Have you ever started to leave a friend’s house, but then turned turn back to say: “Oh, and one more thing… .” […]
A couple of months ago I openly questioned Andrea Tornielli’s publishing the Latin text of the Vatican’s document Normae S. Congregationis (NC).[i] This past week, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published not only the Latin text of the document, but also issued a translation in the major European languages.[ii] As the […]
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts […]
Every so often, I feel the driving need to go thrift shopping. I don’t just “need” to go, I need to go. Most of the time, I’ll go and be happy I went. At other times, I’ll tell myself it’s a fanciful notion and try to ignore it, but that only lasts so long. The […]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has just released an important new study looking at the growing and harmful medical phenomenon of “pre-term birth.” The “WHO Global Action Report on Preterm Birth” estimates that more than 1 in 10 babies born in 2010 were born prematurely, that is, “before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed.” This […]
Fr. Stefan Starzynski’s book, Miracles: Healing for a Broken World (Our Sunday Visitor) is one of those faith-building books that every observant Catholic should read at least once. While this book is not quite a new release, I read it and thought, “How and why did I not hear about this book sooner?” The book […]
No cardinal is under suspicion of being the mastermind behind the “Vatileaks” affair which is rocking Rome, Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., the Pope’s spokesman, told journalists in the Vatican Press Office shortly after noon today. Nor has the Pope constituted a special team of lay investigators, led by a woman, to look into the case […]
