Abraham instructed his servant to leave Canaan, return to Abraham’s homeland and find a wife for Isaac.  Abraham was far too old to make the journey himself and trusted in God to make the procurement of a daughter-in-law a successful one.  Abraham’s servant, likewise, trusted in this same God.  The servant set out to Abraham’s […]

I have one book that is always in my purse, in my car, or on my person.  It is Heidi Hess Saxton’s Behold Your Mother.  When I was recently editing Teresa Tomeo’s upcoming autobiography, Newsflash, there is a point where Teresa encourages her readers to make a habit of spending at least a few minutes […]

Yet certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of character, and so on, as well as inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence, or metaphorically, “the tinder for sin” (fomes peccati); since concupiscence “is left for us to wrestle with, […]

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver Colorado recently addressed a group gathered in  Sydney, Australia. The topic was, “Mission Possible: This Double Life Will Self-Destruct.” In a chillingly honest fashion, Archbishop Chaput shares his thoughts on our lives today, as Catholics, and how we ought to realize our need to live wholly and completely for Christ:
We […]

But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us –Romans 5:8.
Wiping tears from our eyes, we viewers read these last words as they rolled off the screen for the movie premiere of, Fireproof, a powerful, worthwhile movie on Christian marriage.
I can remember, many moons ago, learning […]

When I was a young adult there was a wildly popular book about dressing for career success.  It spawned many copycat books, all proclaiming the benefits of proper attire for everything from boardrooms to schoolrooms.  The premise was that your clothes were the first impression others had of you, and consequently had a great impact […]

I’m a big fan of dark chocolate so it was with great delight that I embraced the news of dark chocolate’s anti-oxidant properties.  That was all I needed to hear in order to justify my personal intake of the wonderful substance.  Once it began being used as a cover for such things as raisins and […]

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that my children, now aged 20, 18, and 16, did not see the rules and regulations imposed upon them as they grew up as providing freedom.  Like most kids, and even many adults, they saw the restrictions I placed upon them as enslaving them, as preventing […]

As many of the regular Catholic Exchange visitors may have noticed, there is a book quietly calling for your attention in a number of different spots on the site. The book is Letters to Luke by Joe Holoubek and I recently enjoyed both reading the book and having Dr. Holoubek’s daughter, Martha, participate in the online […]

Although there are very few things that people would agree upon, it would seem safe to say that we would all agree that there is no shortage of evil acts in our world today.  And although that statement could be said, literally, at any point in human history, televised wars, executions, and kidnappings bring these […]

Faith is an interesting thing.  I guess it is like a vitamin or a locked door.  We believe it is at work but aren’t necessarily interested in testing it out, so to speak.  In taking a daily multi-vitamin I may fathom great things going on in my body, defenses being shored up and repairs taking […]

A dear Christian friend recently asked me, “Why do Catholics bury statues of St. Joseph?”  Apparently my friend’s Catholic neighbor was putting his house up for sale and along with pounding in a “For Sale” sign in the front lawn, buried a statue.  A St. Joseph statue, as my friend was soon to find out.  […]

About a year ago I received an email from a Catholic author with a request to participate in a novena.  Essentially, the request was for blessings upon the works of Catholic authors in the form of sales, recognitions, and other assorted sundry ways in which an author might actually make a living, or at least […]

During a recent family gathering, my husband, my brother-in-law, and my uncle regaled the gathered group with tales of childhood games.  In particular, one that all three of these men, now in their late 40’s through mid 50’s, played was “Church.”  Each man took turns relaying how he would use a Ritz cracker or a […]

I’ve always been a fairly driven, type “A” personality and have been able to handle, more or less, the demands on my life.  However, in recent years I began suffering from back problems that really took the wind out of my sails.  One thing led to another and before I knew it, a few years […]

When my husband and I built our house many years ago I did my best to share the experience with my mother.  But as many mother-daughter relationships go, ours is probably fairly normal.  We have our moments of extreme closeness and times of growing and stretching (i.e. not so much closeness).  It seemed to me […]

About a year ago I received an email from a Catholic author with a request to participate in a novena.  Essentially, the request was for blessings upon the works of Catholic authors in the form of sales, recognition, and other sundry ways in which an author might actually make a living, or at least get […]

Although there are very few things that people would agree upon, it would seem safe to say that we would all agree that there is no shortage of evil acts in our world today. And although that statement could be said, literally, at any point in human history, televised wars, executions, and kidnappings bring these acts of horror into our daily lives and as such have an ability to make us more keenly aware of the atrocities that fill our world.

The celebration of women and motherhood is most beautifully portrayed in a new book by Catholic author, speaker, and Catholic Exchange columnist, Heidi Hess Saxton.  Saxton, a convert to the Catholic faith and adoptive mother herself, exquisitely reveals the relationship between Mary and us, her adopted children, in Behold Your Mother: Mary Stories and Reflections from a Catholic Convert.  Beginning with three short personal stories that set the stage for the tone of the book which is one of love, honor, and a clear understanding of Mary's role in guiding us all to Christ, Saxton gives us the perfect book for time spent in quiet contemplation or when we are in need of a gentle reminder of the power we have in calling upon Christ.  It was my good fortune to work with Heidi on this book and then interview her about her work.

The celebration of women and motherhood is most beautifully portrayed in a new book by Catholic author, speaker, and Catholic Exchange columnist, Heidi Hess Saxton.  Saxton, a convert to the Catholic faith and adoptive mother herself, exquisitely reveals the relationship between Mary and us, her adopted children in, Behold Your Mother: Mary Stories and Reflections […]

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

My son, a wonderfully talented skateboarder, asked me a few years ago a very interesting question, "Mom, is it a sin to skateboard without a helmet? Like if you are doing crazy things and you don't have a helmet on?" So, right away a couple of thoughts rush through my mind. First, what in the world is this kid doing on his skateboard? Second, is it a sin to skateboard without a helmet?

The nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared the way for the new and everlasting covenant in which the Son of God, by becoming incarnate and giving his life, has united to himself in a certain way all mankind saved by him, thus preparing for "the wedding-feast of the Lamb." ~ Catechism of the Catholic Church 1612

What great reassurance we have of Christ's love for us when He calls Himself a bridegroom! Of course this can only be truly comforting, and reveal the depth of His commitment, when we understand the context within which He spoke.  We cannot look at the lack of marital commitment in today's world, whether Jewish or Christian, and fully grasp what Jesus meant when He answered the question about fasting by saying, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast" Matthew 9:15. 

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.  Genesis 1:1-2

From the beginning, literally, the presence of God has been intimately connected to water.  Water has always been life-giving and fundamental in God's plan for humans, even from the earth's very beginning as God pooled all the waters into a basin so that the dry land could appear. Indeed, the image of God's breath, Ruach, upon the waters of Genesis is both transforming and transfixing.  It is the first action in a plan in which, ultimately, arose the sacred combination of water and word in the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.  Genesis 1:1-2
From the beginning, literally, the presence of God has been intimately connected to water.  Water has always been life-giving and fundamental in God's plan […]

Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent and our most sacred time of year: the Easter Season.  Lent is the time for us to reconcile our everyday experiences to the reality of the resurrection.  It is, after all, the resurrection upon which we put our faith.  It is the resurrection that distinguishes us from other religions and new-age followers who believe in their own power and ability.  We as Catholics understand that everything rests upon the Risen Lord, whether it is the hope of eternal life or the forgiveness of sins.  If we have power, it is only under the auspices of Jesus.  Alone we are nothing.  In Him, we are everything.

When I took my first precarious step out into the big, scary world of writing and publishing I found one woman whose door seemed perpetually open to me. She is a woman of great compassion and concern for her sisters-in-Christ and will truly do all she can to spread the Good News. I am speaking of Catholic talk show host Teresa Tomeo. For me, it was truly no big surprise that Teresa would be among the women invited to Rome this past February to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of John Paul II's Mulieris Dignitatem. She has never seen herself in competition with other women but only as a tool to promote Christ's message in all the ways He was calling her to open doors, through her talk show, to others sharing the Good News of Christ.

If you want to read a book on today's media and the Catholic family there is absolutely no better source than Teresa Tomeo.  Teresa is the Catholic talk show host of "Catholic Connection," produced by Ave Maria Radio that can be heard on over 120 Catholic stations through EWTN Global Catholic Radio, the Internet, and Sirius Channel 160.  She has deep roots in the media milieu, having spent most of her high school years, college internships, and all of her career in the trenches, as they say.  Not only has Teresa, herself, been "in the business," but as a talk show host she has interviewed countless people who have contributed vastly to her understanding of the secular media's impact on the Catholic family.

With Easter just a bit less than three weeks away you might already be pulling out your Easter baskets, locating last year's egg coloring packets, and making all sorts of candy purchases at the store.  Markets will be jam packed with eggs and families everywhere will have fun both coloring and eating the decorated delights!  We thought it would be fun to take a quick hop down Easter lane.

Why eggs?  The egg is a symbol of fertility and new life.  Its oval shape is reminiscent of the shape of seeds and represents the spring time planting of gardens and farms, the source of new plants which will sprout forth and provide nourishment.  Christian families might teach their children that the egg is a beautiful way to think about Jesus.  The hard shell is like his tomb and just as a new baby chick comes from this hard, lifeless shell Christ emerged from His tomb.  This is a beautiful Roman ritual blessing for Easter eggs: "We beseech thee, O Lord, to bestow thy benign blessing upon these eggs, to make them a wholesome food for thy faithful, who gratefully partake of them in honor of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ."

As most of you know, I'm a devout fan of the Jewish roots of our Catholic faith and share my enthusiasm with you in my "Our Jewish Roots" articles found here, usually twice a month, on Catholic Exchange.  So, you can only imagine my joy when I discovered some of the works of Meredith Gould, a self-proclaimed "Jew in identity, Christian in faith, and Catholic in practice."  Meredith clearly is my kind of gal and it was with great anticipation that I ordered a copy of Come to the Table: A Catholic Passover Seder for Holy Week. After a few emails back and forth with Dr. Gould, sharing a common passion for His Passion, Meredith providentially included a copy of The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day.  So I began reading both, quite simultaneously, the Saturday morning of their arrival, and was unable to put either down until they were both finished late Sunday evening.

"It is evident that women are meant to form part of the living and working structure of Christianity in so prominent a manner that perhaps not all their potentialities have yet been made clear."  When John Paul II wrote Mulieris Dignitatem, his 1988 Apostolic Letter on the Dignity and Vocation of Women, he freely referred […]

As a parochial school teacher, I found great joy in planting seeds that I prayed would one day take root.  From my perspective, every single, little piece of information that we covered was interesting and worth unraveling.  This was especially true with the sacraments.  I easily discovered that working some of the secular angles to […]

Love.  What is love?  Is it a feeling?  A fantasy?  A dream?  A reality?  A hoax?  As I see more and more marriages ending with the words, "I don't love you anymore," I am wondering…What exactly is love?
There are so many different kinds of love that it would seem impossible to answer this question.  I […]

By the time a child is but a few years old he recognizes any number of different monikers to which he must answer.  Let's take a look at fictitious Joseph James Baxter.  To his grandmother he might be "Joe-Joe," while to his friends he might be "The Big J."  His parents probably call him "Joe" […]

Mal'ach is the Hebrew word for angels. It means "messenger." The Torah has many instances in which angels interact with man to facilitate God's will. In Genesis, these instances include, but are by no means limited to, the angels who guard the gates of Eden after Adam and Eve are expelled and the angel who […]

As a middle school teacher, I rarely raised my voice to my students.  Throughout the years I discovered many other strategies that kept my classroom humming.  So, one day, when I started barking orders at my seventh grade religion students, they were caught quite off guard. 
"Do NOT eat potato chips at lunch today!" I […]

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places.  ~ John 14:2a
When I was a young parent (well not so young, but let's say a new parent) I scoured books searching for parenting tips and techniques.  I had no siblings who were parents nor were any of my closest friends.  I can remember once reading […]

'Avodah' is the Hebrew word that means both "work" and "worship." Whether in Genesis, where God put man to "work," or in Exodus, when God instructs Moses to approach Pharaoh with the request to release the Hebrew slaves so that they can "worship" God, the word 'avodah' is used. The image of both work and […]

When HaShem (God) dictated the Torah to Moses, that Written Law, or Torah She'bi-khetav, made God's laws known to His people.  This Truth, in all its glorious revelation, was to provide the Jewish people with instructions for daily living, how to celebrate their holidays, and the ways in which they should worship their Creator.  The […]

When I began working with Catholic Exchange on the upcoming woman's study that will celebrate the 20th anniversary of John Paul's Apostolic Letter on the Dignity of Women, I knew I wanted everything about the study to reflect a female presence — including the music that would begin the weekly podcasts. 
As always, when I'm […]

Advent is a glorious time to be a Catholic woman.  For the past few years, I have been asked to speak at a variety of different teas and dinners that mark this special season and each one has been a gift from God.
I have had the good fortune to meet hundreds of women who […]

Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah, often called The Matriarchs of the Faith, provide a remarkable insight into God's commitment to women and His interest in how women play an integral part in His plan for mankind.  These women teach us about the roots of our faith but also how our faith has unfolded so that […]

The last of the leaves have finally fallen from the trees.  Actually, a late November rain brought them down and they are now mixed with the snow that has begun to accumulate on the ground making it quite difficult to rake and bag them one final time.  As I enjoy the first signs of winter […]

"Be still and confess that I am God!  I am exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth."  Psalm 46:11
Windridge Solitude is an 83 acre retreat in Lonedell, Missouri that is owned and operated by a new religious community of nuns whose mission is "spiritcare and earthcare." They seek to balance their lives between the […]

The word mitzvah, writ large and uttered reverently, means an act which I perform because God requires it of me.  ~Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld
Central to Jewish theology is the understanding that man is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and that God calls His people to be holy, just as He is holy (Lev. […]

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves […]

Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.  ~2 Maccabees 12:46
November 2nd marks the Commemoration of All Souls; the day in which the earthly faithful are called to pray for the faithful departed in Purgatory.  Often considered connected to Pagan or other ritualistic ceremonies, All Souls Day is, […]

"Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."  Luke 1:45. 
With those words, Elizabeth confirms what we already know about Mary, the mother of Jesus: that she freely, and without reservation, trusted in God.  With those beautiful words we only begin to fathom the depths of […]

Pray without ceasing.  ~1 Thessalonians 5:17
I was recently reminded of the time, a good half dozen years ago, when I asked my seventh grade religion class, "Who has a parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle who prays 'unceasingly'?"  Without an exception, each of my students was able to quickly draw to mind a relative, […]

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroys, and thieves break in and steal.  But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroy, nor thieves break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there also your heart be  ~Matthew 6:19-21.
Reading any sort of published material, […]

When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God."  The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant.  To the Jews "belong the […]