The extraordinary healing of a baby inside his mother’s womb has been declared medically “unexplainable” by top Vatican doctors, putting Pope Paul VI one step closer to being declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Seventeen years ago, doctors in California offered a woman abortion as the only possible solution for the abnormality detected in […]
What does a saint look like? We have our preconceptions: Saints are serene, eyes cast downward, hands folded in prayer. Saints flash joyful smiles while reaching out to help the poor and needy. Saints stand bravely against the enemies of the Gospel, praying as the bullets or the machete or the poison claims their bodies, […]
God calls us each to holiness, to sainthood. Every day, each experience we have helps us grow in our faith and in our purpose: to achieve holiness; to become saints; to fully become the person God intends us to be. Each experience, then, has the potential to be “purgative.” Purgation is a process that gets […]
In a recent conversation with a Protestant friend, I mentioned that we all are called to be saints. “That’s just too Catholic for me,” she said. Those words stung. What does “too Catholic” mean? Do people of our faith tradition give the impression to non-Catholics that we strive for something different than them? For that […]
VESSELS OF GRACE In the 1970s Billy Joel wrote a hit song, “Only the Good Die Young.” The lyrics go like this (but I won’t sing them): “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints;/ the sinners are much more fun.” Sinners can be saints, and saints are sinners. A […]
There’s a bit of a theological disagreement when it comes to heaven. Some believe we will understand all of life’s mysteries and have all our questions answered there. Others expect that basking in the glory of the Almighty will satisfy all desires. Curiosity will simply not exist. My guess is the latter theory is most […]
