Imagine it’s Christmas Day. Your family is gathered around the dinner table—laughter, stories, the clatter of silverware on plates. But your sister isn’t joining in. She has just returned home from college out of state. You notice how quiet she is, detached from the...
Lust is more than a personal weakness or a private struggle—it is a direct assault on the sacredness of the human person, on marriage, on family, and ultimately, on the very image of God. Among the seven deadly sins, lust uniquely wounds not only the soul of the...
Chicago. Autumn of 2025. The air turns crisp as September surrenders to October’s embrace, leaves ablaze in reds and golds, whispering secrets of harvest and renewal. Baseball fever grips the heartland—the “October Classic” looms, where underdogs dare to dream and...
Two years ago, after I’d been in my current job for several years, I felt I’d finally get the promotion for which I’d longed. In my mind, I deserved it. And, based on subtle clues from my boss and others, I thought it was coming. I told my family it was coming. I was...
In recent decades, we have received a sign that fills us with joy but also makes us think. It is the fact that several spouses have been beatified and canonized, not separately, but as married couples. I think of Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of Saint Therese of...
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels”. — St. Augustine My first memories of mature confessions, not centered around fights with my sisters and forgetting my bedtime prayers, are not very interesting. I was a...
The work our priests perform in “shepherding the flock” is extensive and often taken for granted. The vocation extends far beyond Sunday and daily Mass, weddings, baptisms, spiritual direction, funerals, and myriad blessings, among other things. The church we visit...
You can find images of Mary throughout my day - tiny figurines on my bookshelves, a TinySaint keychain on my bag, a fun sticker on my laptop or Stanley cup, and even Marian images in my phone camera roll that I stumbled upon and loved. I’ve heard that many converts...
There are many things that I wish I knew when I was younger. One of those is that a man’s primary core need is to be respected. Women desire to be respected too, but men equate love with respect. To them, to be respected is to be loved. I have learned that I’m a...
“I don’t have the time.”“I’m too tired.”“I’ve tried everything, and nothing works.”“I can’t do it perfectly, so what’s the point of trying?”“I started off motivated, but now I just don’t feel like it.” Sound familiar? These are just the tip of the iceberg when it...
A Heroic Stories Conversation with Sean Berg, Special Forces Sean Berg, a retired Army Special Forces Colonel with ten combat deployments, doesn’t just talk about battlefield heroics—though he has plenty. He walks us through a firefight where a teammate nearly dies, a...
3 Things That Make Sports A Means For Acquiring Christian Virtue From this standpoint, let us reflect on three particular things that make sport, nowadays, a precious means for training in human and Christian virtues.First, in a society marked by solitude, where...
The modern world values individuality. Self-sufficiency is considered a great virtue, priding ourselves on being able to handle and accomplish things on our own. It’s a tendency, however, that takes us right back to the Garden when satan tempted our first parents to...
We are all shaped by our life experiences—both the joyful and the painful. Over time, these events begin to influence how we behave, how we react to challenges, and most significantly, how we see ourselves. Unfortunately, when those experiences are negative, they...
An excerpt from Eight Promises of God: Discovering Hope Through the Beatitudes What moves us and troubles us? What do we mourn? Let us reflect whether we mourn sin and its effects in the world. First of all, let’s look at sin. Our own personal sin and corporate sin is...
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” – Luke 9:23-24 Stories are often told about the great and the...
At one point in my life, I habitually judged and resented certain people. I have confessed it once, twice, and numerous times. Each time I felt His forgiveness, I would tell myself I would do better. “I can forgive and I will not judge.” Lo and behold, I saw the...
Most people never think about the morality of their money. Our use of dollars, euros, or yen is simply "the way things are"—background elements of economic life, like the weather. But what if I told you that a form of money itself can be profoundly moral or immoral?...
“God created man in the image of Himself, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.”— Genesis 1:27 Created In The Image Of God In the Genesis creation story, God created man in His image. You must be thinking, what is that image of God that...
I know the phrase “made in the image of God” gets tossed around a lot in Christian circles, but do we truly understand what it means or feel its weight in our lives? From the very beginning, we’re told, “God created man in his own image…male and female he created...
What you are about to read is my story, my journey, my destination, and my heaven on earth. I have been a secular Discalced Carmelite since the spring of 1988, living in the world, and spending the last 49 years as either a social worker or teaching in Catholic...
Creighton, Billings, Marquette, Boston Cross Check, FEMM. How do couples know what to choose! Well, first off, let’s dive into what NFP is and what it is not. NFP stands for Natural Family Planning, which is a Church-approved method of preventing or planning a...
Michael Schattle spent his adult life as a missionary — first, in a traditional sense, as a FOCUS Catholic missionary, then, through active involvement in young adult communities. At the age of thirty-three, on December 2, 2024, Michael died unexpectedly. In...
In nearly 15 years of clinical psychology, it’s hard to imagine just how many people have expressed a deep longing to tangibly feel loved by God – to be able to truly rest in His presence. One of the main obstacles to experiencing the kind of peace that emerges...
I met a guy who’s not Catholic, but he’s Christian. He’s really nice and loves Jesus, and we agree on most things. Should I date him? This, or some variation of it, is one of the most common questions I get asked as a speaker and author of a book on Catholic dating....