Celebrate mom-and-pop operations However few dollars there are, parents make them stretch until payday. However uncertain the way ahead, they shoulder the decision-making for their brood. However dark the night and scary the storm, parents hug their little ones through it. Today our nation celebrates Parents’ Day, honoring the grownups who make children’s lives safer, […]

A quiet mystic speaks to our age Saint Sharbel Makhlūf (1828-98) was a Maronite monk and priest in Lebanon, renowned for his quiet holiness. On the occasion of his beatification in 1965, the Eastern Catholic hermit was described by Saint Pope Paul VI as “a new, eminent member of monastic sanctity,” who “through his example […]

Love, embodied It’s great to have a deep connection with another person no matter what kind of relationship it may be. Birgitta Petersson (later known as Saint Bridget of Sweden) found this in Ulf Gudmarsson, whom she married while both were very young. Early on in their relationship, they were focused on raising a family […]

Choose wisely and well Good preachers know that if they tell a story as part of a sermon, their people are more likely to remember the message. Such preachers take their lead from the master storyteller. Jesus used stories, often parables with a lesson, to help listeners then and now understand what really matters in […]

Special needs evoke special support On this day in 1968, the first Special Olympics took place in Chicago. It was the brainchild of Eunice Kennedy Shriver—devout Catholic, sister of President John F. Kennedy, and tireless advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. Shriver’s husband, Sargent Shriver—as a Knight of Columbus—encouraged the Knights to support the cause, […]

Read deeply Sacred scripture is the living word of God, and the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina (Latin for “divine reading”) is a contemplative way of “conversing” with it. It involves four basic steps: lectio (“reading”), meditatio (“meditation”), oratio (“prayer”), and contemplatio (“contemplation”). By narrowing in on certain passages, reading them slowly and repeatedly, noticing what stirs you, and reflecting prayerfully on it, you […]

Pure Love! Nothing like it in this world. Mark 6:30-34  Purity of intention is so important in all our relationships.  I was blessed to spend the last couple of weeks with my family.  When my great-niece, Avery, 6 years old, hugged me, looked up at me, and said, “I love you, Uncle Ricky,” it was […]

Bask in reflected glory Understanding and proving the existence of God has been a human pursuit since the beginning of time. For medieval Franciscan philosopher Saint Bonaventure, vestiges of God’s existence are found in all God’s creatures and, indeed, in all creation. Thus, he posits, we see God, “through a mirror.” As our understanding of […]

See with the eyes of faith Some people survive trials and adversity with a faith that cannot be explained. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-80) is one of those people. At the age of 4, Tekakwitha was physically scarred and left nearly blind by a smallpox epidemic that took the lives of her parents. Though she continued […]