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...

There’s nothing quite like a wedding, is there? It’s a time filled with the promise of new beginnings, and ancient commitments, and ongoing love. Unfortunately, we’ve come to see it really in one context only: the weddings of couples committing to creating a family together.But the image of weddings and marriages comprises far more than that.Both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament describe how God marries his bride (that is, those who believe in him), who will ultimately dw...

If you ever spend time with people who are impoverished, ill, set apart, or persecuted in some way, that experience is going to challenge your complacency. It’s going to bring up existentialist questions. Guaranteed.  Sometimes, in fact, it takes something that dramatic to force us to ask the right questions. Here’s the truth that I live with: I’ve always had enough to eat, I’ve had a roof over my head, I’ve had the luxuries of a good education, of books and fr...

by Jackie AngelI hated planning our wedding.Thinking about this one-day event for nine months about made me want to stick a chopstick in my eye.Not because I felt like I did it all by myself (I didn’t), nor because I don’t like having fun (I do), or because I hate sparkly things (I love sparkly things), but because in a Pinterest-obsessed world where everyone is competing to have the most creative centerpieces that are way better than yours and a wedding that is the most original sin...

Time. Einstein tells us that it’s relative, and most of us would agree. There’s never enough time for you to enjoy all the things you want to do; but when you’re engaged with something you don’t like doing, time appears to stand still!Most of us have become accustomed to perceiving time the way we perceive history, as something linear that has a beginning, a middle, and—eventually—an end. Essentially it’s looking at events as being related to each other ...

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...

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...

If there are children in any facet of your life, whether you’re a parent, a teacher, an aunt, or just the neighbor next door, then you know the constant refrain: “Don’t forget to say thank you!” Humans are by and large selfish creatures: we’re born wanting, but once we have whatever it is we want, then we’re off to wanting something else. And we forget to thank whomever gave us the thing that we wanted in the first place.Our culture clearly supports this wanti...

Getting married in a Catholic Church involves more than just choosing a picturesque setting for the reception and colors for the bridesmaids to wear. It’s a significant decision, and a significant commitment, and one for which you need to prepare thoughtfully and prayerfully.Most of all, there are things that you need to know—and do!—well ahead of time.The first thing you need to do is contact the parish where you want to be married and let the priest there know of your intenti...

I have a stack of them. People whose lives I’ve admired. People whose words have inspired me. People whose memory makes me want to be a better person, a holier person. Most of these heroes are people I’ve chosen through my encounters with them in various ways, through my readings, through my prayer, through observing their lives and accomplishments. The list is disparate: Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Lillian Hellman, Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Jimmy Carter, Pope Francis&he...