When Maria Wanchick of Bismarck, ND was thirteen years old, she thought of all the lives lost to abortion and imagined putting up some sort of memorial to represent their lives. “At the time, I thought about crosses,” she said…
Making Lives Count on Memorial Day
Whose Name Is Written on Your Foot?
I sat down in my man-chair. It was comfortable. It was quiet. It was peaceful. I was happily reading some Sherlock Holmes. Life was good. Into the room came Offspring #2, who plopped down on the sofa and turned on…
No Prayer Too Small
“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They…
Thirteen Years Later
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Last week we remembered the horrors of September 11, 2001. We remembered how the people of our great country and across the world…
The Exaltation of the Cross
Readings for September 14, 2014: Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Terrorism is nothing new. It’s probably as old as the human race. In fact the cradle of civilization, now Iraq, was the home of the most infamous…
Trusting God: An Interview with Connie Rossini
I recently had a chance to interview Connie Rossini, author of Five Lessons from the Carmelite Saints that will Change Your Life and Trusting God with St. Therese. She lived for many years as a secular member of the Discalced…
Arkeology
This is primarily aimed at catechists; but if you like it, and aren’t a catechist, maybe you should be one. Every year in our journey through the Bible and the Mass, the kids in 6th grade Catechism learn about All the Arks….
God’s Love for the Individual
With today’s longer Gospel reading of an obscure-sounding family tree, you might do a double-take and think that Christmas has come early. Instead, it’s the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. At times, it can seem like the Church has a bewildering…
Admonish the Sinner: Not an Option
Readings for September 7, 2014: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time I used to think that God’s law was like those dumb rules we had to put up with in grammar school, like “Thou shalt not chew gum in class.” They…
Welcoming The Stranger
The current immigration crisis of thousands of unaccompanied children crossing the border is constantly on my mind these days. I can’t imagine what these children have gone through, in their home countries and on what must have been a terrifying…