Am I Catholic? A Struggle with Faith, Humility, and Surrendering to God by Kendra Von Esh Kendra was a cradle Catholic but without understanding or practicing the doctrine or engaging in the sacraments. This gifted, rich party girl, whose career…
Never Stop Forgiving
One of my favorite stories about the Sacred Heart revelations is when St. Margret Mary Alacoque told her confessor, Fr. Claude de la Colombière, that she was seeing visions of Jesus. Fr. Claude asked for proof. He told her to…
Connection
Human beings crave connection. It is part of who we are. We are not isolated individuals, we are connected: parents with children, spouses with each other, friends with friends. But is connection real? Or is it an illusion, a mere…
Clarity and Confusion
There is a song that was particularly dear to me many years ago when I came to my conversion experience. One of the lyrics goes “Lord, take the darkness from my min, when confusion makes me blind, come renew me…
Growth Beneath the Snow
“The plants were hidden under the snow. And the farmer…remarked with satisfaction: ‘Now they’re growing on the inside.’ I thought of…your forced inactivity…Tell me, are you also growing on the inside?” St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, #294 The plants cannot…
Bread Upon the Waters
I love stories about real heroes, and Deanna Klingel’s book for young adults is just that. Bread Upon the Water is the true story of Father Tien Duong, a Catholic priest who grew up in the strife and hardship of Communist Vietnam….
No Detente with the World
“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but…
The Failure of the Saints
St. Francis of Assisi went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When he returned, he found out that two of his vicars has made changes to the Franciscan community. Francis was shocked to find his brothers living in a…
Feelings
Feeings, emotions. We all have them. They so often drive our decisions. That’s fine when our feelings are aligned with the truth: when we know what is right and we feel it is right, then it’s easier to do it….
Holy Hacks to holiness
Since the days of the Amazing Grace book series, Patti Maguire Armstrong, author of Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith and Get to Heaven, has been one of my favorite authors. I admire her wisdom, casual style and…