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Faith
Advent prayers and homemade guitars
Thanksgiving afternoon, I stood shivering in our unheated garage, wishing I had brought ear protection. And a coat. Across from me my son, Mike, was bent over our makeshift worktable slicing his way through almost two inches of pine…
A guide to growing in gratitude
If you are like me, it is easy to forget how “God provides” if you are too focused on others’ blessings. We live in a culture that incessantly prompts us to want more and more of what others have – and INSTANTLY! Temptations are thrown in…
Feeling overwhelmed? Try these spiritual practices
As parents, there are days when we are burned out, wiped out, overtaxed, and overwhelmed. Each stage and phase of parenthood has its joys and its sorrows. It is a hectic and exhausting task to run a Christian family in a modern world. There…
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,…
All Saints’ Day Gospel reflection: Living the Beatitudes
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Sainthood can be easily dismissed as an impossible lifestyle far beyond our reach. After all, most of us do not wear sackcloth, pray 10 hours a day, start…
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.…
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…
Bayard & John Burland Offer Parishes Free Eucharistic-Themed Resources
In celebration of the National Eucharistic Revival and the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in 2024, Bayard, Inc, and John Burland, Composer and National Music Consultant for Bayard, are pleased to offer two Eucharistic-themed resources…
The Good (Social Media) Samaritan
In the age of social media, the Parable of the Good Samaritan has yet more relevance. The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication released its document Toward Full Presence: A Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media on May 28th of…
How my guardian angel distracted me
I am easily distracted in prayer. This hardly makes me unique — even many of the great saints confessed to this struggle, so at least I am in good company. Different things will pop up to derail me. Sometimes the events of the day intrude.…