Do you know someone who has left the Church? Who do you ask to pray for your loved ones? Sometimes St. Monica is invoked on behalf of children who have strayed from the faith. And she definitely can be a powerful intercessor. But there is another intercessor we should never forget when we pray for friends and family who have left the Church: our Blessed Mother. And in September as we remember her birth, it’s a good time to remember that she is there to help us.Here are some ...

I have been amazed at how deeply concerned people are about "discovering the will of God." When we are young we want to find out God's plan for us. When we raising a family and pursuing a career, we want to know if we are doing God's will. And in mid-life and beyond we want assurance that we spent our life doing what God had in mind for us when he created us.On this first anniversary of the canonization of Mother Teresa, I thought it would be helpful if we asked Mother Teresa h...

As the publicist at Pauline Books & Media, I’ve had the pleasure of reading so many of our titles—from teen dramas to delightful picture books to spiritual guides. But as I read Forever: A Catholic Devotional for Your Marriage by Jackie and Bobby Angel, I got excited.I finally felt like a book was speaking to me in a heartfelt and humorous way. Granted, I am part of the exact target audience of Jackie and Bobby’s mostly millennial fans, but that further cemented for me that...

An English folk verse says, “Remember, remember, the fifth of November,” commemorating the failure of the Gunpowder Plot and ushering in the celebration of Guy Fawkes’ Day. Here in the United States, we too have a “remember, remember” moment, though ours doesn’t celebrate: it mourns. For us, the digits 9/11 are enough to call to mind terror and grief and a nation—and world—stunned by unconceivable violence.It was one of those moments that people wi...

So your child just came home from church, where she actually listened to the homily, during which Father commented on the spiritual works of mercy; and now she’s asking you what he was talking about. You have a dim memory of spiritual and corporal works of mercy…but can you remember them? Or, come to think of it, talk about the 10 commandments, the creed, or the beatitudes?We just added a new book, The Beatitudes Explained, to our Explained series, which is aimed at c...

 To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. (William Blake) In C.S. Lewis’ wonderful Chronicles of Narnia, one of the characters, arriving in heaven, says, “This is the land I’ve been looking for all of my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason we loved the old Narnia is because it looked a little like this.”On our best days, when we’re feeling closest to God, we ...

When I receive unexpected devastating news my heart stops, my breathing stops, my mind stops. I turn numb and cold inside and I feel as though I were outside my own body. Nothing can prepare us for such heart-stopping information, particularly about or from those we love. I have stood beside women who have shared with me through tears the news that was breaking their heart. There was no way to make sense of what was happening, of how lives and relationships were being torn apart by decisions mad...

For many of us, icons—religious portraits of people and scenes from Scripture painted on specially prepared wood using prescribed materials and techniques—seem primitive and dark, sad and austere. Yet their tradition is rich, steeped in centuries of a complex and profound spirituality, and to dismiss it is to close the door on one of the most ancient and enduring ways of experiencing God: through the use of icons in prayer.The word “icon” means image, and images are power...

How much do you really know?It’s not an idle question, and it’s one that I ask myself all the time. There are so many things in life that we think we know, but when we come down to it, we really don’t. Or we find that what we know is erroneous.I’ll give you an example. Many Americans “know” that when writing, they need to place two spaces between sentences. Unfortunately, that’s not true. For a plethora of reasons, while it was once the case, it no longe...

There is something about people rioting that I cannot fully make sense of. There’s nothing inside me that feels prepared to make sense of the way things spin out of control, the violence, the death of innocent human beings, the stories of heroism and self-sacrifice, the clash of beliefs and values. What can I say to myself—and to others, fearful of this happening in their hometown or of it affecting their family?Since I’ve never been in the place where riots are happening, it i...