When I was in grade school, for some now-forgotten reason, all the girls in my class had a sort of competition going around our patron saints. We had long discussions about which one was “better” than the others. A totally silly endeavor, but one at which I excelled because, after all, who can beat Joan of Arc? (Joan is known in France as Jeanne d’Arc, but as she explained at her trial,  “in my country [the region of Lorraine], people called me Jeannette.”...

My friend Gracie went to court again a few weeks ago.She’s not in any trouble—Gracie is one of the most law-abiding people I know—but her son is. He’s 18 and has been sporadically in trouble with the law for at least the last four years, mostly for stupidity. He’s sold marijuana. He’s passed on photographs to other kids that he shouldn’t have. That sort of thing. And every time it happens, Gracie is in despair and does what she can to get him out of the ...

Rita finished baking the bread and setting the table for supper, then looked out the door to see her if her husband, Paolo, was approaching. Not yet, so she didn’t need to call her sons in from outside. Rita took a deep breath and looked up to the mountains. Despite the peaceful evening, her heart was not entirely at peace.The endless feuding that tore medieval Italy apart had recently flared up in Cascia and its neighboring villages. Paolo’s family had been involved for generations....

I believe healing is possible. It wasn’t always that way. For years I struggled with my woundedness and I began to think that there would be no healing for me. I would seek help and then be afraid to go the whole mile, slipping back into what I knew–isolation and distrust–once again securing the barriers I had constructed to protect myself. This even after experiencing the powerful love of Jesus crucified!In my last article of this series on the Spirituality of Healing I told t...

It’s finally here! We who live in the Northern Hemisphere are delighted to welcome the flowers that April showers (and there were a lot of them!) bring to us now. May is the most delightful of months, because it feels like the earth itself is awakening from hibernation.It’s also the Month of Mary. Many of us have childhood memories of May processions, of crowning statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the songs in her honor. But… do you know why May is especially Mary’s ...

I met my friend Theresa for coffee the other day. She was upset. "My brother is leaving the Church," she said miserably. "He says it's not doing what it was called to do. He says homeless people are dying on the streets. He says he can't trust the clergy anymore. He says he's too discouraged to continue defending the Church to other people."Theresa's brother's concerns aren't new, or even unique to the twenty-first century. In fact, they...

One of my spiritual practices on Good Friday, or sometime during Holy Week, is to watch the classic 1977 British-Italian television miniseries directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Jesus of Nazareth—my favorite “Jesus film” of all time. Watching especially the passion, death, and resurrection scenes allow me to connect deeply and concretely with the reality that we celebrate during the Holy Triduum. Robert Powell’s powerful blue eyes and stoic demeanor captivate me, though his l...

There’s a story about Louis-Marie de Montfort embracing a dying leper in the street. He carried the man to a religious house, where he called out, “Open the door for Jesus Christ!”Seeing Christ in the poor, the disenfranchised, had always been part of his spirituality. In 1693, at the age of 20, Louis chose to begin seminary in Paris. He adopted the life of a mendicant, deciding to walk the entire 230 miles to Paris. He arrived with the tattered outward appearance of a poor beg...

An occupied country. A time of civil unrest. And a city about to explode.That was the situation in Jerusalem when Jesus arrived on Palm Sunday. Crowds were thronging the city for the Passover celebration, and the occupying Roman army was understandably nervous about it all. They scheduled a military parade; no one was off-duty, and additional troops had been sent for. There must have been an intense air of fear, of unease, of pressure. Something was going to happen, and the smallest spark might ...

In my many years of life as a Daughter of St. Paul, the Lord has led me not only on my own journey of healing and transformation, but has also allowed me to accompany many others on their journeys as companion, spiritual guide, sister, and friend. This has been a wonderful gift, and I continue to marvel and give thanks as I watch how even today—just as in Gospel times—anyone who draws near to the Lord and touches him experiences healing. There is power in his presence and in his name...