“There is ugliness in us, isn’t there?” the priest begins. “We are flawed. We are human. And God wants us — God is commanding us — to take all of the ugliness we work so hard to bury deep within us, to take all that poison, the aspects…

It had been a bacon-and-egg, aster-and-bluebells, children-hanging-on-every-limb kind of Sunday, five stars all around. By 3 p.m., I was comfortably buzzed on sunlight and motherhood, the grass looking a little greener than usual, my mood a…

by Emily Dagostino Six days a week, Martin Johnson starts his morning at 3 a.m. at St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen in Memphis, Tennessee, with prep work on soup and coffee. By midmorning, the line to the kitchen is snaking out the door of the…

Women who are homeless and pregnant find safe haven and the opportunity to transform their lives at LifeHouse Crisis Maternity Home in Springfield, Missouri. Operated out of a former Carmelite monastery by Catholic Charities of Southern…

A litany of children sticky with candy cane juice jammed the aisle of the Chicago Transit Authority holiday train, grasping for an early glimpse of Santa. Our entire suburban neighborhood, including my husband Sean and our two kids,…