Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Lenten Book Club!During these six weeks of Lent, we are reading and reflecting on the classic on prayer, Pray To Your Father in Secret by Jean Lafrance. For more information about the book club, visit this blog post. Week 3, Chapter 2 - The Way of SalvationThe world changed when God sent his son to become part of it; we have, in the process, become part of God, and he of us. We need to focus, daily, on a constant awareness of that presence.Our ...

Well, the truth is that we don’t know!Eggs are regarded as a symbol of resurrection because they hold the seed of life within. The Egyptians and Greeks used to decorate eggs with different colors, and then eat them as part of their spring celebrations. Another ancient festival that used eggs is the Jewish Passover (also celebrated in the spring), during which it was customary to offer a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water as a sacrifice to the temple in Jerusalem. Persians used to paint e...

In 432, Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, arrived on the Emerald Isle to begin his work of evangelizing the Irish. Upon his arrival, he discovered that his competition for the souls of the people would come from the pagan druid religion and their priests. St. Patrick's struggle with the existing pagan priests truly began with one rebellious and bold act that reverberates throughout history. During the Druid springtime fire festival known as Beltane, there was a ritual where the pag...

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:25-26)Nine-year-old Zoe was crying with her brothers and sisters around their dying mothe...

There is little doubt that one of our newest books, Brigid and the Butter, is based on folklore about St. Brigid of Ireland rather than on fact. Does that make it any less compelling for children to read? Our tradition says no: Jesus himself used parables (stories) to illustrate what he was talking about, and folklore (stories) often tells us more about who we are than any law or date can ever do. The farther back in time we go, the less we tend to know about people. Sometimes no one writes...

If there is one theme that many of the saints return to again and again, it’s this: the absolute requirement that we have as Christians is to see Christ in everyone, to see God’s hand in everything. The Gospels tell us, Pope Francis tells us, Mother Teresa tells us…and, in the early part of the 20th century, an Englishwoman named Caryll Houselander told us, as well, in words that still resonate today: There are many people in the world who cultivate a curious state which ...

Everyone knows about St. Patrick. Or, rather, everyone thinks they know about St. Patrick. He was Irish, right? And he drove the snakes out of Ireland? And he has something to do with…green beer?

Inner peace. It’s what everyone is looking for, isn’t it? It has to be: there are hundreds of self-help books flooding the marketplace, each of them claiming to give readers the path to inner contentment. DVDs walk us through mindfulness meditations, herbal “remedies” claim to calm our anxieties, yoga classes urge us to breathe deeply and discover our inner self.And yet something isn’t working. Everyone is still waiting for the next book, the next video, the next cl...

Welcome to the Online Lenten Book Club!During these six weeks of Lent, we are reading and reflecting on the classic on prayer, Pray To Your Father in Secret by Jean Lafrance. For more information about the book club, visit this blog post. Week 2, Section 1 - The God of DialogueFr. Lafrance urges us to walk in the steps of God’s people in Scripture. As Moses discovered, God isn’t accessible through our minds: he is mystery. Moses, Elijah, and the psalmist all knew ...

In 1922 Teresa Merlo made her vows, along with nine other women, as Daughters of St. Paul, a new community in the Church with a very unique mission.As her name suggests, Thecla was dedicated to the mission of serving God through media and communications. As she told her sisters, “Our Master dwells in the Tabernacle. From there he preaches to our mind and heart by means of the Gospel… We must always live united to Jesus. The Holy Trinity dwells in those persons who are united to Jesu...