The Season of Saints
October is the season of saints. It begins and ends with a celebration of sainthood and the call to holiness. St. Therese of Lisieux brings in the month with the feast day of this Doctor of the Church on Oct.…
Category Christian Living
Media and the New Evangelization: Television as a Means of Sharing the Faith
Editor’s Note: As our team was planning themes and topics for our blog, we found ourselves discussing the New Evangelization. We thought that perhaps we should explore on our blog the meaning and purpose of the New Evangelization and how…
The Cross as a Sign of Boundless Love and Mercy
The cross is at the very heart of our faith. As a symbol, it reminds us of God’s boundless love for us, and as a spiritual and historical reality it holds out the merciful promise of salvation. The Feast of…
Working for Peace in Syria: Three Ways You Can Help
The other day I told some friends of mine that I was against military intervention in Syria’s civil war. One friend sharply criticized my response and suggested that our inaction will lead to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands,…
Saint Monica: Mothers and their Children’s Faith
There isn’t a mom I know who can’t relate – at least a little! – to St. Monica, the devoted mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, whose love for her child overcame their clash of wills and values. In what…
Saint Maximilian Kolbe
It is a profoundly humbling task to gaze at the life of Maximilian Kolbe and not be utterly blindsided by this radiant saint! Writer Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in this…
St. Lawrence and the Ministry of Deacons
Although many of us are accustomed to deacons serving in our communities, a permanent diaconate is a very new experience for those of us in the Western Church. Despite references to deacons in the Christian scriptures, and the profound witness…
Parents Nurturing Children’s Faith
When my children were small, we used to visit my late in-laws every Sunday afternoon. My husband’s family originally came from France in the mid-seventeenth century, so my in-laws were Catholics of the old school. They embraced many traditions including…
Praying the Psalms
People often complain to me that the Bible holds little that is relevant to their lives today. The Old Testament in particular, they argue, contains archaic language and images of a violent and vengeful God. How can THAT help them…
The Virtue of Doubt
I once thought that doubt was not good for the spiritual life. It was the unhealthy trait of those who did not believe in God. A person of faith, on the other hand, trusted in God even when things were…