The air was cold, the moon full, the wind biting as I stood in the backyard waiting for the dogs to do their nightly business. First the smaller, brown one; she likes to sniff and explore. Then the taller, younger one — the energetic Australian shepherd who likes to run quickly to the end of […]
On September 29, 2008, the Feast of the Archangels, Human Life International launched its Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer Campaign for the Conversion of Abortionists. Recognizing that the fight against the culture of death is primarily a spiritual battle, the prayer campaign was designed to encourage the faithful after every Mass to seek Saint Michael’s […]
“Ask and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7). If you’ve ever experienced the power of a novena, you can truly understand these words of Jesus told by St. Matthew in today’s Gospel. Novenas are often discovered out of despair, when your own […]
In Emilie Barnes book More Hours in My Day I read the story of a woman who was upset because her husband wanted her to pack his lunch everyday. She didn’t want to do it. Then Emilie asked her, “If the Lord were to ask you to pack Him a lunch, would you do it?” Her […]
Ever “evolving”, “progressing” — or so he believes — the modern intellectual mentality slithers out of the sea of mystery, clambering from arrogant skepticism to jaded cynicism, until exhausted of wit and verve, it reaches the hard shore of “reason”. And there on the flat landscape it flutters, just out of reach of the lapping […]
Last month, in a Letter to Families, Pope Francis asked families to pray for the success of October’s Synod on the Family, when bishops, priests, religious and lay experts assemble to consider the “pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.” So that the synod may have a better picture of the problems […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Genesis 12:1-4; Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20,22; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9) The Call to Holiness, God’s Design for Our Lives He saved us and called us to a holy life. (2 Timothy 1:9) St. Paul tells us that we have been called to a holy life. But if […]
The Lenten season is upon us once more, and like many Christians, in an attempt to honor God’s faithfulness to his Church and in the hopes of deepening my own faith I have decided to engage in a fast of sorts. Inspired by a good friend of mine, I will for the duration of Lent […]
Epistle Reading: Jonah 3:1-10 Gospel Luke 11:29 There are a lot of people in the world like Jonah, full of zeal and devotion to their cause. Many dismiss them as crazy. Priests are inundated and end up spending copious amounts of time listening to bizarre stories of people who tell stories almost as outlandish as the reading we […]
Jesus says, “This is how you are to pray.” We are, then, blessed with the most beautiful prayer, shared with us by Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father. Today, we are still in the early days of our 2014 Lenten journey. How many of us are asking Jesus to teach us […]
Anne Roback Morse also contributed to this article. Fifteen years ago, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, with the strong encouragement of the Clinton administration, ordered a nationwide sterilization campaign. At least 300,000 women were sterilized by “mobile sterilization teams” on a Chinese model, many under duress. Some died. PRI sent a team of investigators into the […]
When Catholics talk about Lent, we usually talk about what we are going to change in our lives. We view our lives as deficient, and in order to improve them, we must either subtract (give something up) or add (take on extra prayers, devotions, etc) to our lives to grow in holiness. This has been […]
Twelve nuns kidnapped by jihadists in Syria last December were set free yesterday (Sunday, March 9th). Patriarch Gregorios III, head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, broke the news to a team from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), who had just arrived in Lebanon to visit projects supporting refugees from Syria. The Damascus-based […]
Global health advocates agree the rate of women dying in childbirth worldwide is unacceptably high. Usually, getting help from experienced advocates with political clout would be a boon to any campaign. But a new study finds family planning and abortion advocates have diverted resources and hindered progress in helping women from dying in childbirth. A […]
A few thoughts on Lent for 2014…. I need a good Lent…. Because I have an awareness of how undisciplined my life can sometimes be. I’d like to blame my distractability on my ADD, but in truth it is mostly due to the honed chaos I’ve developed in my life. I dread nothing more than […]
When Chaunie Marie Brusie faced an unplanned pregnancy in her senior year of college, she didn’t know where to turn for help. Now an obstetric nurse, married mother of three, and founder of TinyBlueLines.com, she is working hard to make sure that other young women have resources to help them cope with this unexpected and […]
In a way, the whole message of the Gospel is summarized by the Triduum. Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil are themselves paralleled, too, by long swaths of human history. Humanity was in communion with God, and then fell into sin and denial of God, only to have God go very far to […]
At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for 40 days, tempted by the devil. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. —Mk 1:12-13 “A veil of thick darkness hangs over Paul’s visit to the Arabia.” [1] The Reverend George Rawlinson, a 19th-century […]
Mass Readings for Saturday, March 8: Isaiah 58:9-14; Psalm 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6; Luke 5:27-32 In today’s first reading from Isaiah he tells us what to do to lead a holy life according to God. “If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; the light shall become for you like midday; then the […]
As I crossed the great divide of puberty, I formed a vivid image of God.. He was a grumpy old man on a throne with a frown on his face. Every time anyone tried to have a little fun, he’d shout “Thou shalt not!” But to really live and not just exist, you had to […]
It’s a compelling event — something we all better hope we see more of, if America is to thrive. I speak of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competitions, which will be taking place at various cities across Canada and the U.S. through the first week in April. Teams of […]
Pope Francis looked up during his General Audience on Ash Wednesday and ditched the script, putting aside his prepared remarks to question the spectators gathered for the weekly encounter, “I want to ask: Your children, your kids—do they know how to make the sign of the cross? Do your grandchildren know how to make the […]
As Catholic parents we all want to see our children grow in the Faith, overcome their temptations, and ever approach sanctity, but when John and Jane are screaming at each other over who is going to get the stuffed monkey, we might wonder how they are going get there. Rather than telling them to share, […]
Today’s Daily Mail features an article titled “Wombs for Rent” and praises the surrogacy enterprise as a means of “transforming the lives of poverty-stricken women” in India. India has been a hotspot for commercial surrogacy since the early 2000s, particularly for couples from the UK, Australia, and the United States looking to avoid the costly fees associated with surrogates […]
