For more than 1,500 years, Benedictine monasteries and convents around the world have operated under the Rule of Saint Benedict, a set of simple precepts designed to help religious communities lead an ordered, prayerful life. Saint Benedict’s guidelines address five…
Everyone loves a summer wedding; pass any church on a given Saturday and you’re bound to see the happy couple in their wedding finery, surrounded by friends and family. What isn’t visible is all the planning and preparation that has…
We are excited about the release of Greening Your Church: A Practical Guide to Creation Care Ministry for Parishes, Dioceses and Religious Communities by Norman Lévesque. Greening Your Church explores the Church’s teaching about creation care and offers us practical ways of living in…
Many of us question God’s presence in our lives, particularly in times of crisis or suffering. And that is perfectly normal. How could one not, when suffering or great difficulty often leaves us feeling a bit alone and lost? Yet…
As a child I always perceived saints as rather extraordinary women and men. Their faith and holiness always appeared well beyond my ability. Years later I discovered that many of the saints’ lives were much more alike our own. Many…
Everyone loves a parade. If you search the world, you will find Eucharistic processions of almost every description to mark the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. In Rome the procession goes down one of the major streets,…
Have you heard the one about the funny saint? Talk about saints often focuses first on serious attributes: piety, for example, or a sense of selflessness. While an extraordinarily pious man, Saint Philip Neri, a 16th-century Italian priest and founder…
Although only mentioned briefly in the Acts of the Apostles, the election of Matthias as an apostle illustrates for us the importance of discernment in the life of the Church. We are told that shortly after Jesus’ Ascension, on the…
“Dear Young People: with Christ the heart never grows old! Do not be ashamed of his cross! On the contrary, embrace it because it is in giving ourselves to others that we have true joy.” –A Year with Pope Francis:…
“When the Lord looks at our fragility, he invites us to take care of it not with fear but with courage. “Don’t be afraid, I have overcome the world!” (Jn 16:33) “I am with you always until the end of…