In the Foreward to Three Moments of the Day by Fr. Christopher Collins, Fr. James Kubicki reminds us that “every precious moment of time has eternal significance, either contributing to the salvation of our neighbor or not.” Given that each moment of our life has this eternal value, how do we make the most of […]
He was a pro-life champion. He was a great supporter of EWTN and Mother Angelica. He was a huge booster for Franciscan University. He was a tireless therapist/spiritual director/advocate for priests in trouble. He was a lighthouse for fidelity and truth in the faith during the tumultuous 60’s and 70’s. He was co-founder of Good […]
The church on earth lost a great spiritual leader this past Friday night, October 3. On the very same day that St. Francis of Assisi died back in 1226, a priest who lived and taught the Franciscan spirituality and in fact founded a new community based on that spirituality, was called home to the Lord. […]
St. Therese once told Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart that “It is trust, and nothing but trust that must bring us to Love.” Trust in God can be one of the most difficult things to cultivate. We humans like to feel we are in control of our lives. It can be incredibly hard to […]
I was talking with a friend the other day, both of us feeling somewhat melancholy, oppressed from the outside by the horrors of the world and from the inside by loss and chronic illness. We naturally sought out shelter and comfort in our pasts. The conversation turned to younger years — days when we were absolutely carefree, […]
Hospitality really isn’t having folks over for dinner or inviting ladies to tea (although I love to do this); it isn’t making sure our homes are in decent enough order to welcome drop-ins (although this is a good idea). It is much more radical. Much more uncomfortable. Much more beautiful. Reprinted with permission from Catholic […]
I made my first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience on August 30, 2014. Visibly not much has changed. The biggest change is the veil I am wearing now. It has cleared up a lot of confusion. When I walk down the street, people now look at me and usually know what I am. In […]
Christians know that evil won’t win in the end, yet that knowledge sometimes seems small comfort when the end seems far from sight. Scripture tells us that Christ will come, angels will gather all humanity, and judgment will be final. Yet until that triumphant day, we carry the pilgrim’s palm, not the victor’s wreath, hoping […]
These seemingly harmless well-intentioned words, can appear on the surface to be a wonderful wish for someone we love or care about. I submit to you however, that they are rather more platitude than love, and more harmful than good. The world is filled with people far more experienced than I in many areas of […]
Our approximately 48-hour visit to the “top of the mountain” neared its end. I knew we soon would be leaving, with only mid-day prayer and a lunch of Vietnamese food ahead on the schedule. I wanted to savor that prayer experience, to let it satisfy my spiritual taste buds in a way no food ever […]
In his moving novel, Silence, Japanese-Catholic author Shusako Endo once described the continent of Asia as a “swamp” that choked the sapling of the Gospel and made it uninhabitable for Christianity. That image has always haunted me because a part of my own journey — as a convert to Christianity from Buddhism — has been to […]
Fr. Ronald Knox, an English Catholic of the early 20th century and convert, gave retreats and talks to lay people to help them deepen and improve their spiritual life. In his Spiritual Guidance for Christian Living: A Retreat for Lay People, he gathers two dozen talks and homilies written for lay people and the troubles they […]
The Stations of the Cross is a service typically done on Friday evenings during the season of Lent. It’s fitting to meditate on Jesus’ passion and death during the somber time of Lent. The church echoes with the words, “We adore you, Oh Christ, and we praise You. Because by your Holy Cross you have […]
“Who do you say that I am?” That is a question that we are called to answer every day. Who it he? Is he God? Is he the Lord of our lives? Or was he just a good man who healed the sick and got crucified for crimes against the Jerusalem establishment a long time […]
This week, Pope Francis continued his Apostolic Visit to Korea where he spent time with youth and Bishops of the country. He shared that his visit can be summed up by three words: memory, hope, testimony. Like all Catholics, I have my own testimony. I am an adult convert to the Catholic Church. In 2012, […]
Pope Francis denounced the trend of moral relativism during a meeting on Sunday with Catholic bishops from Korea and around Asia. Christians must avoid the temptation “to compromise our faith, to water down the radical demands of the Gospel and to conform to the spirit of this age,” the pope said. He said that dialogue is “an essential part […]
After finishing up one of the marriage classes we offer to couples preparing for marriage, we facilitators will often talk about what went right and necessary improvements. It seems no matter how much we prepare technology to work properly, it invariably has us jumping through hoops and frustrating us crazy. We joke about gremlins and […]
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” –Maya Angelou It’s all about our stories. Everyone has them – many of them, in most cases. Your stories, taken all together, explain you. You can look in the mirror, see that face with wrinkles around your mouth and at the corners […]
Not everyone reads the Bible. And even though many people who attend a church that is based in the Bible have beliefs that proceed from the “Good Book,” they don’t all adhere to 100 percent of those words – and perhaps don’t even know what is inside the book. Chances are they know the “highlights:” […]
About one year after a marriage begins, the married couple enters a period of disillusionment, says Dr. Phil Mango. That’s when they realize that neither of them is perfect, and one person’s faults are reflected in the other person’s reaction almost daily. The same thing happens to newly ordained priests. After years spent in the seminary immersed […]
My earliest recollection of Caitlin was in her mother’s womb. Her mom and I were both pregnant with daughters. Information we did not know at the time, but would later bring great delight. This “wasn’t our first rodeo” as they say, I was on child number four and Caitlin made six. The girls were born […]
I came upon my old Bible the other day, the one I read through from cover to cover twice, a TEV Protestant Bible, now incomplete to me, but still generating a holiness from within even when I touch its cover. I looked at the many scotch tape fixes, the numerous margin notes, the multiple dog […]
I like to play this little game now and then: I’ll pick a word – or as is the case more often, a certain word seems to choose me by rolling around unexpectedly in my mind for several days. At a certain point, feeling unable to ignore it any longer, I will sit down and answer […]
While many people believe forgetting an injury is part of forgiveness, Fr. Justin Waltz, pastor of St. Leo’s Church in Minot, ND, suggested just the opposite during a retreat he gave. In fact, he stated that forgetting is not even possible. “The only type of forgetting I have heard of is stuffing,” he said during a […]
