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  The expression “he has the patience of a saint” is fitting praise for someone who puts up with difficulty, displaying noteworthy calm and grace when most of us succumb to exasperation and anger. In the way they live their lives, saintly people teach us that it is possible... Read More →

    A cartoon by Erika Sjule in the New Yorker magazine of May 8, 2023, shows a man and woman sitting at a table and the man declaiming, “If only every summer were autumn, and every autumn spring, and every late spring summer, and every winter only the holiday season,... Read More →

    I’ve always admired the title of the organization “Priests for Life”—let’s not go into the controversies or scandals—as an ingenious name because it is a fundamentally priestly role to be for life. And what I mean by a “priestly” role here is not specifically... Read More →

  “We need to take care of the children; after all, they are the future.” Lots of people say this—you may have said it yourself. It’s a common sentiment in the church, I’ve found. When talking about Sunday school or catechism (or whatever a particular church calls it),... Read More →

    Whatever a community requires, but lacks, it discusses and seeks. Consider, for example, leadership. Good leadership is essential for all communities—large and small, nations and cities, corporations and sports teams, congregations and families—to flourish in their... Read More →

  Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home,... Read More →

  At the Lamb’s high feast we sing, praise to our victorious King, Who has washed us in the tide flowing from His piercèd side. Easter triumph, Easter joy! This alone can sin destroy; From sin’s power, Lord, set us free, newborn souls in You to be.  The beautiful... Read More →

    In his account of the first Good Friday, St. Matthew tells us that “from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” (Mt. 27:45) And in his Life of Christ, Bishop Sheen says that the last judgment was prefigured on Calvary. The darkness can... Read More →

    Prolifers can learn from the marvelously practical language of Alcoholics Anonymous. In AA, the phrase “stinking thinking” refers to destructive habits of thought that tend to return the alcoholic to the bottle. Those of us concerned with abortion do well to be alert to... Read More →

    Death is our ancient enemy, and yet in many lives there comes a time when we should not resist death but accept it. This is a paradox, and it poses a basic question: how to accept death while continuing to affirm the sanctity of human life. An elderly woman was... Read More →