Summer months allow for seminarians to spend time in parishes and embrace pastoral and apostolic work more readily. Many priests recall lasting, grace-filled lessons, friendships, and memories that began on summer assignments or in home parishes as seminarians.As...
Volunteering is incredibly beneficial to our spiritual growth. Serving in the community provides opportunities to focus on the needs of others, challenges us in new ways, develops virtues, and encourages us to pray more. But, once you become a mom, isn't your family...
Through my three pregnancy losses, I have been absolutely blown away by my amazing community of family and friends. I am in awe of the loving strength and selfless support that is given by so many people around me, male and female, old and young, close friends and...
I’ll be the first to admit that integrating the Catholic faith into my everyday life isn’t always easy.Okay, that’s an understatement. It’s far from easy. The number of things I have to do every daycan sometimes leave no room for God. Did I just say that?No room for...
Another year brings fresh New Year’s Resolution attempts. Back in 2016, I made a resolution to volunteer, but at the time I just didn’t know where I wanted to volunteer. I never felt God instantly calling me to any particular volunteer program. It took a period of...
When we hear Bible words like “salvation”, “redemption”, and “covenant”, it can be easy to file them away as relics from another time and place that don't actually affect us anymore. It is easy to forget that these religious words really do mean something for us here...
It doesn’t take long for us parents to realize that our children absorb everything we do and say. I remember the first time I heard my two year old let out a long sigh and say “Oh, my gosh. I can’t even.” Her tone and expression were exactly like mine. Sometimes you...
Have you ever wanted to talk to someone who has been through some of the same trials, struggles and situations in life that you are currently facing? It always seems to help to speak with a person who “gets” it. The advice and empathy they give is unlike anyone else’s...
Remember the refreshing feel of that ice cold drink of water after you mowed the lawn or ran a marathon or woke up realizing you are thirsty beyond compare? At times, nothing else can really satisfy us like a glass of clear, pure, clean water. God has provided us the...
We’re already halfway through the Year of Mercy, a time when the Church (that’s us!) is invited to discover God’s mercy for ourselves, as well as for those around us. Pope Francis has been very clear on the importance of this and has encouraged us to “assist others...
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents...
“We are all addicts.” I was told this four years ago and have never forgotten it. It was a comment addressed to a group of young Catholic adults by a priest who worked with people who had drug and alcohol addictions. When he said it, I couldn’t believe what he was...
Have you ever given a homeless man money and wondered what he did with it? Have you ever stopped yourself from giving because of this hesitation? The idea that a homeless man or woman might be using your money for drugs, alcohol, or other things you wouldn’t want is...
"Without God, the Cross crushes us; with God, it redeems and saves us" (John Paul II). Perhaps something similar can be said of a friend, a presence by our side that brings a little light into our darkness. How to be that friend? How to be Christ to someone when he or...