Spirituality

This summer marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the martyrdom of Bl. Stanley Rother, the missionary priest from Oklahoma who was gunned down in 1981 by a government-backed death squad in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. Bl. Stanley had served as missionary to the indigenous Tz’utujil for thirteen years...

Friendship Without Communion If the first part of this reflection considered the ship as a symbol of time and direction, the second part turns to the deeper human question: why do people who talk so much remain so unable to enter into communion? The characters in Let Them All Talk are brilliant, art...

Elon Musk, the famed billionaire tech mogul, is widely recognized for possessing some of the most innovative companies in the world. For many, Musk has everything one can ever dream of, with enough wealth to sustain anyone for several lifetimes. However, he made an intimate revelation about himself...

This Sunday’s Gospel tells us that Jesus let the apostles struggle for many hours in a violent storm before going to them.  Why did He wait so long? Gospel (Read Mt. 14:22-33) After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand (last Sunday’s Gospel), Jesus sent both His disciples and the vast crowd a...

Today, August 6th, Christians around the world celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. In this pivotal moment, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. There, before their eyes, He is transfigured—his face shines like the sun, His clothes become dazzling white, and the prophets Mos...

“Before filling the glass with good liquid, the bad one must be poured out.” I don’t need to tell you the story of St. Augustine—no, not you, readers. You know already of the great saint, whose conversion story is perhaps the most famed ever written. His life gave birth to the concept of the Augusti...

On August 9th, the Church observes the Liturgical Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). Thirty-five years ago, two Polish missionaries of the Conventual Franciscans, Fr. Zbigniew Strzałkowski and Fr. Michał Tomaszek, were martyred in Peru. Until the very last moment, they coul...

There is a reason why the Jesuit Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio, upon being elected pope, took the name of Francis of Assisi as his “guide and inspiration.” As his many writings inform us, Pope Francis consciously followed in the wake of his saintly namesake in many of his papacy’s aims. As he wr...

“Come, Holy Spirit, come by means of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, thy well-beloved spouse.” This short but powerful prayer comes from Servant of God, Fr. Stefano Gobbi whose love for our Blessed Mother influenced many thousands to pray the rosary and increase their own devotion to her. Praying this...

The prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the LORD only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled. (Jer. 28:9) Once, in my younger days, I met a beautiful woman who was nearing the end of her childbearing years. She confided in me that, as a devout Christian, she had always tr...

Frequently when the two of us pass our church while doing errands, we stop in to spend a few minutes with Jesus. Often no one else is in the sanctuary except for us and Jesus in the Tabernacle. Our first words of prayer are “Jesus, we were in the neighborhood and just wanted to stop in to say hello”...

We were watching one of the live games of the recently concluded 2026 Soccer World Cup when I asked someone in the room which team he was cheering for. He said he did not support any of the teams and that he was just there to watch a good game. He was completely neutral. I nodded in tacit approval....