If you’re like me, you have a struggle every morning: do I dare read the news today? What new calamity is going to befall us? In what new ways will people hurt each other? How can I stay centered when the world around me is so off-center?Part of me just wants to turn my back on all of it. Stay off the internet, not put on NPR when I’m driving somewhere, ignore what’s on TV. With the exception of the sporadic “human interest” stories that local stations put into thei...

As Catholic Christians, we know that prayer is vital to keeping our soul in good health, cultivating virtue, and growing in intimacy with God. If prayer is an important element of your life, then you most likely have a desire to share it with your spouse. Sometimes this can be an awkward feat, though, since we all have different personalities and preferences in types of prayer, or especially because we may have never seen a prayer life modeled or talked about by a married couple. Hopefully shari...

How often have you had the experience of stepping back from your busy life and finding yourself alone—on a beach, in the woods, even in a quiet moment in a park—and suddenly felt the nearness of God? It’s probably happened to us all: realizing in one moment of closeness how deeply we love our Creator—and how deeply we’re loved by him. We forget, sometimes, the incarnational aspect of our religion. We are the children of a God who revealed himself fully by comin...

Note: We’ve been talking recently about Ignatian spirituality, and today we’re bringing you the first in a series by Fr. Greg Cleveland, OMV, the director of the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Denver, Colorado.The charism of my congregation and our founder, Venerable Bruno Lanteri, is to proclaim the mercy of God, especially through parish missions and retreats. We are graced with the mysticism of St. Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises, which lead people thro...

What do you think of when you think about meditation? You’re probably imagining yourself sitting cross-legged on the floor in an uncomfortable position with your eyes closed. Or maybe when you think about prayer you’re visualizing yourself in a pew in your parish church, not sure exactly what to focus on.There’s another technique for prayer and meditation that’s so amazingly simple, little children do it all the time! It’s coloring. Finding a subject to co...

Have you been blessed to know someone who's stood by your side, rain or shine? Someone you can trust to tell you the truth when that’s what you need to hear, and offer you a listening heart when all you need is to know that there is someone who still cares…?Such friends have entered my life from my earliest reading years until today, shedding light and opening umbrellas on dark and stormy days, and taking my hand and showing me the way when I was confused or needed ass...

Today we’re pleased to bring you an article written by Father Greg Cleveland, who we’ve been introducing to you over the past few weeks.People often ask how they can incorporate Ignatian spirituality into their lives, thinking it more fitting for the lifestyle of priests or religious. Actually, Ignatian spirituality is tailor-made for the active individual, with its goal of finding God in all things, whether in prayer, apostolic activity, or our ordinary daily routines! Prayer and wo...

A lot of people think of Confirmation as some sort of graduation ceremony, during which a person moves on from one part of their life in Christ to another. And to some limited extent, that’s true, as every sacrament brings us deeper into relationship with God.But something very specific is happening at Confirmation. When a person is confirmed, they are anointed with the oil of Chrism, and an anointing is a whole lot better than a graduation.What is chrism? Holy chrism is a mixture of olive...

One of my silliest memories from childhood is the time when I was seven years old and decided I would play a trick on my six-year-old brother, Gordy. It was nighttime, and my mom had probably run a short errand to the neighborhood store. Everyone else was gone, so we were alone in the house.As we were playing, a bright idea came to me: I could scare Gordy by turning out the light and screaming at the top of my lungs. So I stood by the light switch near the door, turned off the light, and commenc...

Not many people automatically associate Ignatian spirituality with children’s Bible reading, but in fact it’s an easy fit. Children love stories and are experiential by nature, and the Ignatian method for meditation on Scripture offers just that.We start the meditation by asking God for his grace, just the way that Ignatius teaches us. Then we use our imaginations to enter into a Gospel story, sensing and feeling what’s happening in the scene.This method we’re describing ...