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Spirituality
Let’s talk turkey … and temperance!
The Great Thanksgiving Weigh-In was a short-lived tradition in my extended family. Upon arrival at Grandma’s house, the competing cousins would trek to the bathroom scale and record their weight before eating a morsel. Then they would…
What Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day teach us about life
Secular culture has brought with it a heap of advantages. For instance, it’s pushed hard for the tolerance of every sort of difference, especially religious differences, for which in an earlier times people were willing to fight and die.…
October: No spell too small
St. Cyprian the Sorcerer (died 304) Feast day: Oct. 2 Just in time for Halloween, this month’s saint was a real charmer. Literally. Don’t get him mixed up with the other, famous, respectable Cyprian who was once bishop of Carthage and is…
The feast of St. Margaret Mary: The apostle of the Sacred Heart
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (feast day Oct. 16) was born in the Diocese of Autun (France) on July 22, 1647, the fifth of seven children. Even as a child she had a deep love for the Lord and always wanted to please him. She was also deeply…
RISE program aims to ignite men’s faith and change lives
This fall, through a program called RISE, men in Catholic parishes across the globe can still begin a 30-day challenge designed to reignite their faith and bring them into community with each other. The program, created by Catholic authors…
How to not be overwhelmed by God’s work
Our Lord has asked each one of us to participate in the holy mission of bringing the Gospel to others and to live it ourselves. “ said to them, ‘The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out…
Five ways to make waiting spiritually profitable
Every time I leave my house, I’m amazed at how impatient and frenzied the world has become. It seems as if most people are striving to stay busy with family activities, work, and pursuing the “perfect” life of health and wealth. As a whole,…
September: Do your house guests make you want to dig your own grave? Pray to St. Phocas
Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the stranger, bury the dead. September’s St. Phocas took the corporal works of mercy to new heights. Or should I say depths? Find the answer to that and several other bad puns in our story…
Padre Pio: A saint comes to YOU!
The day began with an announcement from Fr. Walter Grabowski: “Not many of us can go to San Giovanni Rotondo, but St. Pio comes to us!” Born May 25, 1887, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, affectionately known as Padre Pio, first expressed a desire…
Society of Our Lady, Healer of Hearts: A song for the glory of God
What happens when you chase every enticement the world has to offer, but end up disenfranchised? Then, realizing you have nowhere else to go, you look up and find the gift of Our Lady, waiting to take your hand and heal your heart. Some…
