It was a warm summer evening, not quite dark, but blue-lit and past the point of shadows. The kids were running through the gardens with empty pickle jars and bare hands chasing fireflies and having middling success.
“It’s ridiculous,” I said to my husband, as we strained to see their pale outlines in the creeping darkness. […]

America! America!
God mend thine ev’ry flaw
Confirm thy soul in self-control
Thy liberty in law! — Katharine Lee Bates, America the Beautiful
You might think of America’s national hymn, “America the Beautiful” as a poetic look at the nation’s landscapes but it’s actually a patriotic cry from the heart to live up to God’s expectations. […]

My sister is a Discalced Carmelite nun. For more than 30 years she has remained within the walls of a cloistered monastery living an austere and joyous life of prayer, sacrifice and community life centered on Jesus Christ and in imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Everyone asks me why. Why does she live such a […]

As the month of May — Mary’s month — comes to a close, our awareness of the Blessed Virgin’s significance in our own lives shouldn’t end with a time of the year. She is an example par excellence of living Christ’s gospel message, in every season and for every person.
The Mother of God enjoys many […]

The pavement can be brutal outside an abortion clinic. It can be controversial, even dangerous, but most of the time it’s quietly tense with little to encourage those who stand and speak for pre-born babies and their right to live. Most pro-life demonstrators don’t mind. They are there to witness to truth, to be a […]

If someone approached you with the following advice, would you perk up your ears and listen?
“I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to the things of sense and your ears to all the noises of the world, […]

It’s in the trenches of everyday parenthood that I most clearly hear God speak to me. No, I don’t have visions or mystic revelations, and I don’t hear voices. To tell the truth, I hear only one voice — my own.
“How many times are you going to make that mistake?” “When are you going to […]

The time has finally come, after more than 40 years, for my parents to leave their home. Age, frailty, practicality and a host of other reasons have converged to bring the day we have all been dreading-emptying our family home and moving on.
We ponder what we'll take with us. My parents will need only a […]

"Do all you possibly can for this work of My mercy. I desire that My mercy be worshiped, and I am giving mankind the last hope of salvation; that is, recourse to My mercy" (The Diary of St. Faustina, 998).

Contemplating the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ means pondering a sublime mystery. When we consider His proposal of forgiveness and His promise of mercy, we can barely approach an understanding of His perfect goodness and love.

In our sinfulness, even the most pious of us can not fathom such perfect mercy. We're unable to practice it ourselves and have never been recipients of it through human nature. It is more than we can believe that such a treasure, unmerited, would be ours through the merits of God Himself.

"Day-dawn gilds the heavens;

The air re-echoes with our hymns

The world is triumphant and glad,

And hell howls with fear and rage.

A bright angel cries out:

'Away with mourning, tears and grief!

The Conqueror of death is risen!'" (Easter Lauds)

When Christ rose from the dead, He vanquished the power of death and opened the path to heaven for humankind, a path closed by the original sin of Adam and Eve. Christians rejoice that we have the hope of heaven before us, that by His death and Resurrection we will one day be born into eternal life.

The headlines boldly pronounced "Homeschooling Suffers Defeat in California," and right away I could feel the anxiety coming on, that prickly, heated, lightheaded feeling that accompanies the belief that I am no longer in control of things.
It was one of a series of occurrences that have shaken my comfortable world this Lent. Old anxieties, dormant […]

In my diocese, we're starving this Lent.

I don't mean we're voluntarily fasting from food or pleasures, although I'm sure many are. I mean we are starving for spiritual nourishment and for all of the liturgical, sacramental and traditional supports that are our God-given right as members of the Catholic Church.

We go without.

We're told that we must administrate for the future and plan for the shortage of priests and expect more church closings and parish school closings and, most of all, get used to the fact that we won't have what we need and we'll be getting more of what we don't like.

I do a lot of freelance writing for non-profit organizations and, frequently, while attending brainstorming sessions, I will hear the phrase "We need to 'Think Outside the Box' on this one."

"Thinking Outside the Box" has become a mantra for Americans. It means to conceive ideas that are not commonplace; to one-up the competition with original creativity; to find a new path to profit that has yet to be exploited in the marketplace.

In fact our society is obsessed with "Thinking Outside the Box." People continually search for new ways to entertain themselves, to feed themselves, to exercise themselves, to justify themselves, all with the maxim that it has to feel good and require minimal effort. This attitude drives our lifestyles, our politics and our very economy. In a nation founded on freedom — today defined as license — "Thinking Outside the Box" is praiseworthy conduct no matter what the cost. You might say we're hell-bent on it.

"We're losing," said my father with a deep sigh during our long distance telephone conversation. "We're losing the battle."
His statement had nothing whatever to do with his or my mother's state of health, thank heavens. He was not speaking about the war in Iraq. He was talking ostensibly about the culture war raging in the […]

Lent always seems to come upon us before we're ready, like an in-law who shows up early for a visit.
But unlike an out-of-town relative, Lent itself is the preparation for the Ultimate Guest: the resurrected Jesus Christ. We've got forty days to pull ourselves together and make a sincere effort to be ready to greet […]

On a cold January day, marking the 35th anniversary of legalized abortion in the U.S., a group of abortionists stood outside a brand new Planned Parenthood clinic in Schenectady, New York, and declared the site "sacred ground."
I kid you not.
While hundreds of thousands of Americans participated in the "March for Life" in Washington, D.C., a […]