Advent is my favorite season. Each year I find myself so grateful that the Church knows just what I need in order to prepare my heart for Christ’s coming. This time of waiting is such a gift that ...
Why Living In The Present Moment Is Where God Wants Us To Be
“The duties of each moment are shadows beneath which the divine action lies concealed.” —Fr. Jean Pierre de Caussade, S.J.A few weeks ago, our nine-year-old, Sam, asked me to play a game of Monopol...
Bring Back the Epiphany Party!
Have you noticed? The secular, salesy, toss-Baby-Jesus-out-with-the-bathwater celebration of Christmas has a riptide effect. It sweeps us up before the turkey leftovers are ziplocked and the pump...
The Imitation of Christ: A Medieval Classic for Today’s Catholic
For over 500 years, a single book has been the most widely read devotional work, second only to the Bible. It has been translated into at least fifty-five languages and published in over 6,000 edit...
St. Gertrude the Great: Into the Heart of Christ Through Prayer
St. Gertrude is one of the most remarkable mystics of the Catholic Church. Her life, her writings, and her experiences of the Heart of Christ through prayer have had a significant impact on Catholi...
Memento Mori - Remember Your Death
We are all going to die. Every single one of us. And, over time, so will all those whom we know and love. This reality can strike fear in the heart of even the most faithful Christian. Yet, if...
Remember: God Likes To Be Thanked!
No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. —St. Ambrose I recently called a friend to ask for her prayers in a situation I was struggling with. A few weeks later I texted her t...
St. Jude Thaddeus: Patron Saint of the Impossible
When I was a young girl, my grandmother kept a statue of St. Jude on her dresser. Since few things adorned her room, St. Jude was prominent there. She had a special love for him, and lived out her ...
Wearing the Crucifix: What We Believe
Ours is a happily-Catholic home. You don’t have to get much further than the threshold of the front door to realize it. Like many Catholics, we display statues, holy pictures, and other tangible re...
What Saint John Paul II Meant To My Catholic Faith
I became a Catholic in 1991. To say that my faith was affected by the man who was pope at the time of my conversion is an understatement. At first I could not anticipate how this Holy Pontiff, who ...