This Paschal season, and beyond, we might do well to ask ourselves "how can we come to know Our Lord in a deeper and more meaningful way?" In our life-long journey to Christ, who we know is the Light and Life, what could be more important?

The Church teaches us that we can deepen our experience of the Lord in many ways - through the Sacraments, the Liturgy, Sacred Scripture, through our prayer and devotional life, by studying the teachings of the Church, and through instruction by other faithful and learned members of the Church.

It seems as if we are busier than ever in today's society, and that we are living in an increasingly visual age. Time is precious but we know that we must make time for the truly important things. Although we are reading books less and less, while spending more time watching television and surfing the internet, the idea of spiritual reading and of "lectio divina" is a tradition of the Church that goes back to the earliest times. This practice was popularized by religious communities who acknowledged the profound value and benefit of it. In our increasingly secular and materialistic age, an age of so many distractions from our true path, why not make a return to a venerable tradition - one proven to help us grow in Christ? What have you read lately that has deepened your faith experience?

Following the ancient tradition and practice of the Church, the season of the First Sacraments is approaching. It corresponds to the Paschal (Easter) season in the life of the Church although some parishes will continue to celebrate First Sacraments well into the Pentecost season.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us "The sacraments of Christian initiation — Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life. The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity." Catechism of the Catholic Church #1212.

St. Peter Damian, Monk, Bishop, Cardinal and Great Reformer, is probably the least well known of the Doctors of the Church. We celebrated his feast day in the Church on February 21. He was born in the year 1007 in…

On a cold winter day, probably not much different than today, a young French girl named Bernadette made her way, with two young friends, to the edge of her village to gather some wood for kindling along the banks of…