Wishing you a joy-filled and holy Christmas and New Year 2014!As we contemplate the Christ who desires to be reborn in us we are filled with awe. He strips himself of his divinity so that he can share totally in our humanity. He comes as an infant so that he can be held by us; he comes in utter poverty so that we can approach him and learn what true wealth is. Even in the manger he is Way, Truth and Life!God reaches down to us and lifts us up in his Son. May we imitate him by reaching out to tho...

The Daughters of St. Paul wish you blessings with this Christmas Prayer     

As Daughters of St. Paul, we celebrate New Year’s Eve and Day differently from most people! On New Year’s Eve, we begin retreat with an hour of adoration, and each sister is free to continue her adoration till midnight. The following morning, we continue retreat and conclude it at noon on New Year’s Day. (It’s an awesome way to start the New Year: if you don’t believe me, you should try it!) We sisters “pray out” the old year in a spirit of thanksg...

One month after the largest typhoon on record hit the Philippines, most of the world has moved on to other emergencies, public and private. For that country, though, “normal” has forever been relativized. About 80% of the city of Tacloban, capital of the province of Leyte, was destroyed by wind and six-foot tall waves. As of last week (Nov. 30), 5,632 people have died, 1,759 remain missing, over 26,000 sustain injuries, and 4 million nationwide are displaced. If nothing else, th...

If you’re like me, you may be thinking, “Here we are again—on the cusp of Advent. How did that happen?” The season seems to catch us by surprise each year, especially with all the preoccupation over Thanksgiving arrangements and the distraction caused by Black Friday mania the day after.Yet this year we’ve received extra special incentive to pause on the brink of a new Church year and reflect on where we are and where we’re heading. Advent is a journey, after ...

by Sr. Kathryn J. Hermes, FSPThis is the last week of the liturgical year—the Feast of Christ the King—and the end of the Year of Faith. As we move soon into Advent, the haunting yet lovely prayer Maranatha will be often on our lips and resounding from our hearts. Come, Lord Jesus. Come! Come! Come! The prayer of longing flows readily from our lips when we look around us and feel frightened or lost or embittered or angry at injustice or deprived of what we need to live securely. Our longing is...

by Sr. Ann Heady, fsp In the midst of problems and uncomfortable situations, I often get lost in anxiety and fears. Is this your experience? When we focus on the problem, we often forget the greatest resource we have. Prayer. Pope Francis reflects on this in his morning homily October 8th. He stated, “The first task of life is this: prayer. Not the prayer of words, like parrots; but the prayer, the heart: gazing on the Lord, hearing the Lord, asking the Lord. We know that prayer works miracles....

November 15, 2013 (Boston) — Pauline Books & Media is proud to announce the release of Contraception and Catholicism: What the Church Teaches and Why, by Angela Franks, PhD.In this new publication, Franks tackles perhaps the most widely misunderstood Catholic Church teaching of all: contraception. Franks knows firsthand the confusions and objections that arise in response to this controversial subject matter, since as a young Catholic she also questioned the Church’s stance on contraceptio...

By Marianne Lorraine Trouvé, FSPRecently I viewed an excellent film on purgatory that included a testimony from Father Doug Lorig, a priest in Arizona. For a long time praying and offering Masses for the deceased has been important to him. He had been touched in particular by a case of a seventeen-year-old boy named Tony who had in his life been involved with drugs and gangs, finally committing suicide. Father Doug prayed for him for over a year. Some time later he was at a cemetery for a...

Sister Anne Flanagan, FSP It started as a single, very simple concert on New York's Staten Island. Nineteen years later it has become a two-week road trip with a benefit dinner-concert on Staten Island, and engagements in New Jersey (this year Ramsey and Piscataway), Alexandria (Virginia), Cleveland (Ohio) and Boston (Massachusetts). It can be hectic, tiring, intense, and sometimes frustrating.  Bur for me, it is the high point of the year: non-stop singing for two weeks! Night af...