Pass The torch With Loving Attention

Among the short list of most influential people in your life surely there is a teacher or two, most likely from your early years of education. Blessed Marie Rose Durocher, who founded an order in Quebec with a strong teaching ministry, was herself deeply influenced by those who taught her along the way. Her first teacher, in fact, was

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Eyes On The Prize

According to Saint Augustine, the word angel (from the Greek angelos — “messenger”) is basically a job description — that is, angels serve as messengers of God’s purposes. They are reliable, says Jesus, because they “always behold the face of my father in heaven.” We can trust such messengers because they do not lose sight of God. Today we celebrate the feast of three archangels — Michael, who spoke regularly to the prophets; Gabriel, who announced the births of John the Baptist and Jesus; and Raphael, whose name means “God has healed.” Let’s learn from them to keep our eyes on God.

There’s always more to be done

 Toward the end of his life, Vincent de Paul (1580-1660) sat with one of his many wealthy patronesses, who recounted all the good works of charity he had initiated and supervised throughout his priesthood. She asked him what else he could possibly hope to do. “More,” he replied benignly. His relentless enthusiasm for the relief of human suffering was infectious and led to the founding of the society that bears his name by layman Frederic Ozanam two centuries later. In his name—and through your generosity—the St. Vincent de Paul Society continues to do “more.”

Quantum Hints Of God

In her book of devotions entitled Revelations of Divine Love, 14th-century mystic Julian of Norwich describes how she came to understand that God is light, Whom she described as, “our endless Day.” Seven centuries later, physicist Bernard Haisch came to the same understanding: “The solid, stable world of matter appears to be sustained at every instant by

Helping Comes First

 When Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) — Padre Pio as he’s widely known — decided he wanted to build a free hospital for the poor up the road from his friary, he started with a piece of land and a few friends and supporters. Four years later, in 1956, he had one of the most modern hospitals in Europe. Since the padre’s death in 1968, the facility, which

Please Be Seated

The names of the apostles are integral to our story of faith, but in truth, we know very little about many of them. Bits of information from the gospels and Acts of the Apostles do allow a glimpse of their lives in the first Christian community. The rest we can only prayerfully imagine. We know that

Stretching Exercises

Exercise physiology experts tell us that our physical bodies should be “warmed up” before engaging in any type of exercise – that we should gently stretch our muscles before beginning any exercise routine or competitive event. It’s not uncommon to see athletes “warming up” before games, and baseball pitchers in the “bull pen,” and football players on the sidelines will stretch and move about to get their muscles accustomed to the rigorous vigor of competition. Similarly, being an example of

Faith Will See Us Through

Martyrdom of Saint Januarius; Girolamo Pesce; circa 1727; Oil on canvas, 262 x 193 cm; Bishop’s Library, Vác, Hungary

The stories of early Christian saints are often larger-than-life. So it is with Saint Januarius (third century). According to legend, Januarius was thrown into a fiery furnace by the Romans during a time of intolerance toward Christians. To everyone’s amazement he emerged unscathed. Taken figuratively, the story says a lot about how faith can help us in the face of intolerance when it comes to things like race, gender, immigration status, and so on. We may be

Share The Wealth

Healing the Centurion’s servant, by Paolo Veronese, 16th century

 Like the centurion who came to Jesus for a healing, we’re aware that we fall short of having “earned” the great gift of the presence of Jesus “under our roof” or in our lives. But Jesus chooses to dwell with us, imperfect as we are. As Pope Francis says in Misericordiae Vultus, our salvation depends on mercy. Mercy is the “ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us.” Mercy is the “bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.” A daily awareness of our own “unearned rewards” helps us to share our spiritual wealth with others. Do I hear an amen?

Build On A Loving Foundation

The third-century life of Saint Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, might have given rise to the comedy tag line: “It’s always something,” but his troubles and those of the church were anything but funny. If it wasn’t a heresy, it was bitter controversy over whether someone who had renounced the faith might be reconciled with the church; or it was exile, or the plague, or schism. Cyprian’s response was always generosity. During a terrible plague, for example, he

Christ Before Us

Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, exiled for years in a Soviet gulag, had finally reached the limits of his endurance. Bitter cold and brutal treatment had taken their toll. He put down his shovel and sat down, resigning himself to a swift, violent death at the hands of the guards. A gaunt, old prisoner scurried over and

Shed Some Light On The World

Saint John Chrysostom (349-407), the archbishop of Constantinople from 398 to his death in 407, often reminded his subjects to offer prayers universally—that is, to pray for everybody in the whole world. “For [Jesus Christ] did not say ‘thy will be done in me or in us,’ but ‘on earth,’ the whole earth,” he wrote. Because of

Listen To The Queen Of Peace

The origin of today’s memorial goes back to the celebration of the

Hard Prayers

The highest commandments for those who follow Jesus tell us to love God and one another. To love others with a Christian love means to seek their good, even when we do not feel like it or “others” are behaving in a way that makes it very difficult to wish anything good for them. Even more shocking, Jesus calls us to

Be Reconciled In Love

Christianity is not just a theoretical philosophy; it’s meant to be lived. One radical way you can put your faith into practice is to follow Jesus’ advice on what to do when someone sins against you: “Go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.” This is not the way of the world, which encourages the aggrieved to

The Least Of These

Only the “birthdays” of Jesus at Christmas, John the Baptist in June, and the Blessed Virgin Mary today get a special day in the church year, so when a “nativity” comes up, it’s something to notice. Mary’s birth is the dawn of our salvation. And that salvation comes through humble vessels like Mary, who in her Magnificat praises God saying,

Decipher The Holiness Code

The presence of holiness seems obvious to demons — they knew Jesus on sight. But the rest of us have a hard time recognizing the holiness all around us. Like Bill Murray’s character in the motion picture “Ghostbusters,” we seem to have trouble with

The Power Within

Pity the poor substitute teacher who feels insecure. When a nervous sub enters a classroom the students will sense it, and chaos is likely to break out. On the other hand, pity the students when a teacher is authoritarian, lording it over them just because he or she can. What students are looking for is someone with true authority, whose authority comes from an inner certainty rather than

All Work Is Sacred

Our work — whether paid or volunteer, inside or outside the home, part-time or full-time, a career or a job — is sacred and worthy of attention and respect. How we labor every day matters, and how we are treated and treat others in our work is

The High Cost Of Love

It must have stung Peter to have Jesus call him Satan, especially since Jesus had already chosen him to be the foundation rock of His community of believers. Peter, in his bullheadedness, seems a good stand-in for