There’s some crazy stuff in the Old Calendar that is just interesting to learn about. My husband is forever telling me this. (By Old Calendar I mean those things connected to the Traditional Latin Mass.) For example, this Sunday is called Passion Sunday. It always falls on the Sunday immediately before Palm Sunday and serves […]
I rise today with the strength of the sky, with the light of the sun, with the splendor of the moon, with the brilliance of fire, with the blaze of lightening, with the swiftness of wind, with the depth of the ocean, with the firmness of earth, with the firmness of rock. — From the […]
There’s a famous story in St. Augustine’s Confessions in which he and a group of youngsters looking for mischief steal pears, just for the thrill of the theft: We carried off a huge load of pears, not to eat ourselves, but to dump out to the hogs, after barely tasting some of them ourselves. Doing this […]
My husband is hard to shop for. He has simple tastes and knows what he likes. Over the years I have tried and tried to find the perfect gift he would really love and use. I’ve attempted to be clever, tapping into his interests, hoping to come up with something he would enjoy. I have […]
The Rev. Billy Graham had a simple message–give your life to Jesus. And that’s exactly what he did. He may have counseled presidents, he may have been the first religious leader to lie in state in the nation’s Capitol, he may have founded a media dynasty, but he always knew who he was. In many […]
Anyone want a good conscience-stinger for Lent? Recently I just reread Thomas Dubay’s Happy Are You Poor. And my conscience was stung. I have too much stuff, and my children have too much stuff. And this stuff gets in the way of knowing Jesus. And it’s time to clean house and make space for Him. Now as […]
Hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist threats, mass shootings – if you watch the news these days you could be tempted to go hide under the bed. These events bring on talk of the end times that we are warned about in the New Testament. The apostles expected Jesus to return at any moment, though He told them […]
Sober up, people! How are you going to prepare for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? The 3 Pillars of Lent: Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving Prayer If you’re not already setting aside a specific time every day to pray, you need to. I am the mother of six little children. If I can do […]
What is February 2nd known for? In secular society, it’s ‘Groundhog’s Day.’ While there’s nothing wrong with remembering this little rodent and speculating on whether or not he’ll see his silhouette created by the sun, I’d invite us to go a little deeper. While the sun is a beautiful thing, and certainly necessary for life, […]
MANY PEOPLE in the Ukraine are destitute, especially older people and families. The armed conflict taking place in the eastern part of the country also continues to claim victims. The suffering Church receives both pastoral and material aid. Nonetheless, the Church should not get so wrapped up in its charitable commitments that it forgets that […]
The mother of the messiah has been called many things in the last 2000 years –the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother. But call her “the Mother of God,” and you’ll see some Christians squirm. This is nothing new. One day in the early fifth century, a priest preached a stirring sermon in the […]
When one looks at the liturgical calendar, one sees a message the Church is attempting to instill within us. Right after we erupt with jubilation over the birth of Christ, we meditate over the first martyr, St. Stephen. He reminds us that this joy has a price, and that price is higher than we could […]
The Classic manger scenes always include cows (or oxen), donkeys (or mules), and sheep. The Egyptian god Apis was a bull who was believed to be a king and who would become a god after his ritual slaughter. The Roman god Consus was a protector of grain, who had an altar underground, and who considered mules […]
Padre Pio and an Exorcist Talk About Angels While many of us have felt our angel’s presence at times or at least trust that he’s there, what do all the guardian angels do when people turn from God? Are they still on guard? During an interview with Father Patrick, (not his real name) an exorcist […]
As I age and have more life behind me than in front of me, I find myself in my deepest emotional hurts identifying most intensely with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here is the woman who in her own Earthly life experienced so much suffering through her fiat. God designed woman in a particularly ingenious way […]
This title is from the first lines of a poem/prayer I first heard from my Mom as a little boy. This is more an invitation than an article for readers. Please speak your thoughts in comments below about how Mary, today, would teach us how to pray. Imagine if it were possible – Our Lady […]
In general, people are born into certain groups based on their personal, social, and cultural surroundings. They also voluntarily join groups based on shared occupations, beliefs, or interests. Membership in these groups influences how people think of themselves and how others think of them. (Science for All Americans, pp. 91–93). We do not choose our […]
We as Catholics believe that at death our material bodies are temporarily separated from our non-material souls until the end of time. We believe that at the end of time our bodies will be resurrected and re-united with our souls for eternity. For those who lived righteous lives their reunited bodies and souls will be […]
We can all relate to Jonah at times. We want people to get what is coming to them, good or bad- mostly bad- especially if they have hurt us. In this case Jonah wanted Nineveh to fry for the ill-treatment of his people. We’re told in Scripture that “Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry […]
We’ve all heard it before: As long as you believe in Jesus, it doesn’t matter which church you belong to. This commonly-held sentiment makes us feel good, as if we were being friendly and welcoming. It demonstrates a striving for unity, but it is a unity accomplished at the price of truth. Actually, it’s not […]
Our hands do many things throughout the course of the day. Mine may type emails, clean a toilet, make cookies, and embroider a dish towel within a 17-hour period (with proper hygienic measures followed, of course). The other afternoon, I had stopped home to our convent to finish up some last minute details; my hands […]
From an anthropological, genetic or physical perspective we are able to determine with a fair degree of accuracy that we have evolved into what we call “Homo Sapiens,” the highest order of development in the animal kingdom. This mostly agrees with Darwin, who theorized that we are animals merely in degree, through evolution. Darwin correctly […]
Fall is here and my mind turns to the angels. As the leaves drop and remind us of our earthly transience, our thoughts settle on the spiritual world which is usually hidden from our senses, the world of Heaven, in which dwell the saints and angels. And so, we celebrate the feasts of the Archangels […]
Today is the Feast of the Archangels, specifically Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, whose proper names are divinely revealed in the Sacred Scriptures. Happy Feast! Angels are beautiful. They are “spiritual, non-corporeal beings” whose existence is “a truth of faith” (CCC #328). They “have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection […]
