The Five Holy Wounds of Christ The Five Holy Wounds of Christ refer to the wounds Jesus suffered during His Crucifixion—one in each hand, one in each foot, and one in His side. These wounds are a profound reminder of His immense love and sacrifice for humanity....
“How could God let this happen?” This cry of a grieving heart expresses one of the greatest challenges to belief in a loving and all-powerful God. Suffering. It feels like a betrayal as if God has stopped being what He is supposed to be. And as much as we can observe...
by Diego Hernández Herrera Suffering from an addiction —or even a habitual vice— can be quite embarrassing, especially when you are a Christian, because you are aware of how serious such a sin is. It can also feel disheartening to faln back into a sin from which...
For the Grieving Heart The time following the loss of a baby is numbing and painful as you try to navigate all of the emotions that are flooding your entire being. The grieving process is complex and leaves you wondering when your heart will find healing again, when...
Miscarriage, a word that I never thought would happen to me. It wasn’t really on my radar and I didn’t give it any thought when I found out I was pregnant with our first baby. Yet, it was this very word that defined my first five pregnancies. It is the word that...
Our Catholic faith is an absolute treasure trove of wisdom that I truly believe is deeper and greater than any human suffering, no matter how intense and unbearable. So if nothing you’re about to read appeals to you - keep digging through the treasure, my friend,...
Is there something wrong with your life? Maybe something is missing. Maybe you’re depressed. Maybe you’re overwhelmed. Maybe you’re trapped by compulsive behavior. Maybe there’s a particular sin you haven’t been able to overcome no matter how hard you’ve tried? Maybe...
Have you ever struggled to fully comprehend the concept of "holy abandonment" when it is discussed? I have personally experienced this, and even though I understand it better now, I still find it challenging to put it into practice. The idea of surrendering one's will...
When my grandma turned 91, I remember her saying: “You can find joy in all stages of life.” That’s always stuck with me. I know it to be true in regards to getting older, but I also believe it to be true in relationship to the world: You can find joy in all...
Who is St. John of the Cross? St. John of the Cross was a Spanish Catholic who was born in 1542 amidst the throws of the Protestant Reformation. He was a major figure in the Catholic Counter-Reformation and would later be named a Doctor of the Church. He was a priest,...
When we think of the saints and martyrs, especially the first Christians, we struggle to conceptualize their experiences. We don’t live in the same era, they seem “more Catholic” than us, and their level of holiness can feel unrelatable and unattainable. The...
Gospel Of Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."The Lord replied,"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,you would say to this mulberry tree,'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."Who among you would say to your...
Gospel of John 21: 1-19 At that time, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.He revealed himself in this way.Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus,Nathanael from Cana in Galilee,Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his...
Even if you didn't watch the Oscars, you've likely seen all over social media what occurred between Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Will Smith. An offensive joke was told at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith and her husband retaliated by walking on stage to slap...
Would you describe yourself as perfectly happy? Perhaps you’d say you are somewhat happy or happy enough, but not especially so. We often get the general impression that lasting happiness is far-off, practically impossible, not to be hoped for in this life. When we...
https://vimeo.com/642910917/510f2312a7 What do I do now? A question all families of loss ask themselves the day after the funeral. Family members are going back to work. The house is a mess. You have no energy and find...
It is estimated that 1 in 6 couples struggle to get pregnant. Infertility is often a hidden suffering, and is even considered a “normal,” albeit temporary, difficulty encountered in some marriages, but easily fixed if the couple...
No little baby needs a ‘trigger warning’, not even a baby lost to miscarriage. But I do want to give a note here that I cover some very gritty realities of miscarriage in the following article, especially discussing burial...
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen teaches in his Book of Sacraments (Sophia Institute Press) that there are two sacraments of healing: one for spiritual illness, which is the Sacrament of Penance; the other for physical illness,...
If you’ve had the terrible, heart-wrenching misfortune of losing a child by miscarriage, I understand. And so does St. Zelie Martin, who experienced child loss multiple times. People try to help, and it is not always a healing experience. This is a list for those who...
When we suffer in any way, it is normal to ask why. Why does this have to happen? Why would God allow this? In some of our worst moments of suffering, it can feel not only like God is not present, but that he is very far away. We feel abandoned and betrayed. We get...
Who Was St. Jude? Judas Thaddeus is often known in Greek as simply “Thaddeus” because this is the name used in the Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Mark. When translators were putting the books of the Bible into English, they sought to distant this Apostle we...
We are living in unprecedented times. The tension has become palpable. You can see it on our roads, in stores, even within our churches – people are stressed beyond belief. We live with the media shouting their respective agendas at us 24/7 – pandemic, civil unrest,...
Having a bad day? They happen. Sometimes more frequently than we want them to. However, no one is or should choose to be defined by their bad days. Rather, they should be defined by their Christian perseverance in faith, hope, and charity through difficult moments....
“After a lot of thought and it was a very hard decision, unfortunately, we have to make you redundant.” Those are words that rank up there with “you’ve tested positive for coronavirus” that no person wants to hear. A second virus is now raging a war on us and that is...