Greed, or the older term avarice, is an excessive or disordered love of riches. To be clear up front; money, or any material good, is exactly that. Good. That’s why we desire them. Wanting to secure your physical well-being through financial assets is good. Greed...
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...
Indulgences have been available in the Catholic Church throughout it’s history. Originally, a person who attained one brought about a partial remission of the temporal or worldly consequences that sin inflicts upon our lives. Receiving absolution and forgiveness...
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...
“It didn’t come with a manual.”I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a guy say that about marriage and fatherhood.But it is true…and it is a hard truth. The two most difficult “jobs” for a man—being a husband and a father—commence with little to no...
“It didn’t come with a manual.”I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a guy say that about marriage and fatherhood.But it is true…and it is a hard truth. The two most difficult “jobs” for a man—being a husband and a father—commence with little to no...
My husband, Stephen, and I visited the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help – now called Our Lady of Champion – in July of 2021. Although we always hoped for the opportunity to visit the Shrines at Fatima and Lourdes, we realized it may never happen. Because of...
Let’s be honest—Latin can make anything sound either incredibly profound or mildly threatening. “Nihil obstat” is one example. Say it slowly in a deep voice, quite dramatic. Really though, it’s quite a simple concept. According to the United States Conference of...
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...
When you see a red octagon, I’d imagine the first word that pops into your head is “Stop!” Or when you see a check mark on a test, you can safely assume that you got the answer correct on your test. Symbols are perhaps the easiest way to convey a meaning or a...
As a dad of seven and a lifelong devotee of Our Lady, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Rosary. But something changed when I became a father. The Rosary stopped being just my prayer—it became our prayer. I began to see it not only as a lifeline for my own spiritual...
“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...
As a user of artificial intelligence technology (AI) for research and some creative tasks, and as an author and observer of the profound changes that AI will cause in our society, I will admit that I am concerned about AI. My apprehension is only partly over the more...
Some specify between a “good Catholic” and a “bad Catholic.” Some just denounce another is not a Catholic anymore because they did X or believe Z. Some are “supposed to be” Catholics but no longer practice. Some think that only Catholics who pray the rosary every day...
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?...
Happy is the soul that knows how to find Jesus in the Eucharist and the Eucharist in all things!St. Peter Julian Eymard
Some saints were famed in their day; others lived humble lives of duty. When St. Claude La Colombière died, all the chronicler wrote of him was that “there was nothing worth noting to be recorded.” Yet the holiness of his private writings, and the guidance...
“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...
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law?How do you read it?"He said in reply,"You shall love the Lord, your God,with all your heart,with...
Do you desire to have a lifelong Catholic marriage? In the twenty-first century, that is a tall order. How can we be sure if we are dating someone that if we marry we will be able to persevere? How important is that perseverance thing? For a Catholic—indeed for any...
There are many beloved titles of Mary: Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Sorrows, and even Our Lady of Champion—the only approved Marian apparition in the United States. On July 16, we turn our attention to one of the most powerful Marian titles and...
Read Part 1 of this 3-part series here. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus affirms the truth that prayer is ultimately a relationship of love in three simple, but deeply profound, verses. To elucidate this truth more deeply, let us examine...
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...