As you read this, your mind and your heart might be heavy with all the problems that weigh you down. They may seem myriad. They may seem unfair. But the truth is, they all have a solution!Back around 1700, a German priest commissioned a special piece of art as an act of thanksgiving for a favor Our Lady had bestowed upon his grandparents. The couple had a terrible problem—they were in fact on the verge of divorce—with no solution in sight.The husband went to seek counsel from a pries...

Who is your mother?When we answer that question, we all probably think first of our biological mothers, the women who brought us into the world, the women who packed our school lunches and helped us with homework and told us bedtime stories. But “mothering” is an activity that covers a lot of ground: there are countless women out there (and a few men, too) who have played a significant role in “mothering” us. Unfortunately, on Mother’s Day, we tend to forget them. W...

It’s our standard blessing: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” And most of us have a pretty good grasp of God the Father and of Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit? That’s a lot trickier.We think about the Holy Spirit more in the springtime, as the liturgical year moves toward Pentecost and many parishes offer the sacrament of Confirmation. But there are some very good reasons to care about getting to know the Holy Spirit all year long!&nbs...

"Just talk to me." That’s what I used to say when I telephoned my mother. I was in my early twenties, living alone for the first time and feeling completely overwhelmed by life, and from time to time I’d call her up, crying, and I’d say, “please just talk to me.”And she would. She chattered on about the repairs to the roof that my father was finally getting around to, or the neighbor who’d thrown a loud party last Saturday night, or the book she&rsqu...

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was known, not just as a Catholic media personality, but also as a spiritual director who always had time to meet with people, individually, often for hours at a time. While any number of unexpected people were converted thanks to his work, he was modest about his efforts. “I am only a porter who opens the door,” Sheen said. “It is the Lord who walks in and does the carpentry and the masonry and the rebuilding from the inside.”Many of the archbisho...

The countdown to Holy Week has begun, and for some of us that’s an unwelcome reminder that we’ve become less enthusiastic or energetic about the Lenten practice or discipline we selected back at the beginning of March. Forty days is a long time, and giving up one thing, or adding on something else, can become difficult to maintain over time.The good news is that you’re not alone: a lot of Lenten practices don’t make it through the season. No one does everything they plann...

If you are, then you’re not alone. A lot of people wonder about what will happen to the Church throughout this century and beyond. When I find myself worrying about the Church’s future—and believe me when I say I do—there is one place that I can turn that invariably gives me hope. I hope for the Church’s future for the simple reason that I have studied its past.Our history is filled with many inspiring, miraculous, and beautiful moments. It tells tales of heroi...

Can you remember who influenced your life the most? Perhaps it was someone from your childhood, an adult—such as a relative or teacher or priest—who made you see clearly what was important for you, what shape your life should take?That’s usually the way it happens: children are most often influenced by the lives of adults around them. But in one little-known situation, it worked the opposite way. And, oddly enough, the adult influenced by the child’s life lived half a wor...

As inhabitants of the 21st century, we tend to think that our style of anything—fashion, thought, language, music—is the best that things have ever been. We’ll listen to songs from the past with a grin of nostalgia. We’ll look at clothing from the past with a grimace of how-could-we. And while we know that the treasures of Catholic spirituality might be relevant to us today, we often get stuck precisely on their style.No one talks the way people used to, and no one writes...

by Alexis WalkensteinThat was the last thing I uttered when I was inside the crypt at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City at Christmastime 2008. I was praying to then-Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen, asking him for intercession with a litany of impossible prayer requests, three for others, and two for me. I closed my prayer with, ”If you help me with these intentions, I will promote you.” That profound moment inside the crypt was a stand-out moment of so many thin...