Spirituality

I served for a year as a volunteer chaplain in a hospital in Colorado. As I went from room to room to offer conversation, prayer, and the Blessed Sacrament, I met people from all kinds of backgrounds, from a Hollywood set designer and a…

One shivery November night in northern Indiana we went to my brother’s house for a family celebration. My brother worked construction and was still on the job when my sisters, parents, and I arrived. While my brother worked late we and his…

Losing weight, eating healthier, exercising more regularly, getting more sleep, or quitting a bad habit probably top your New Year’s resolution list for 2019. Have you thought about making a spiritual resolution for 2019? It’s great to…

Sunday of the Holy Forefathers and Feast of the Holy Fathers (Dec.16, 23 this year) If you ever wondered whether the holy men and women of the Old Testament are considered saints by the Church, December has your answer. It contains the…

St. Matrona (fifth century) Feast day: Nov. 9 Here we have a saint who left her husband and daughter to become a monk. Nope. Not a typo. Matrona is complicated. So much so that you might reasonably wonder: Why is this person a saint? Let us…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…