Prayer:  The First Means of Repentance and Key to a good Lent When St. John Chrysostom (d. 407 AD) preached in Antioch (Syria) about repentance, he recommended several practices which have their origin in the Old Testament, and have been used by Christians for the last 2,000 years.  These practices are important for our entire […]

Who would have ever expected that the man who supervised the murder of St. Stephen, the first martyrdom of a Christian, would have ever become a Christian himself?  Yet one day, on the road to Damascus on a mission of persecution, Saul of Tarsus had a vision and heard a voice:  “Saul, Saul, why are […]

On September 15th, the Catholic Church honored Mary as “Our Lady of Sorrows.”  When we are suffering, and especially when we are grieving the death of a loved one, such as the loss of an unborn child through abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth, we can join our sorrows with those of Mary at the foot of […]

In the Diary of St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, the Lord Jesus said that He would give special graces on the Feast of Mercy, the Octave Sunday of Easter.  On that day, Our Lord promises that those who have been to the Sacrament of Confession (and, of course, made a good confession of […]

During this first week of January, the Catholic Church in the United States honors three saints who, at least for part of their lives, lived in our nation. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is honored on January 4th.  She was raised Episcopalian, but converted to Catholicism as an adult.  She was a wife and mother of […]

This last week of August, the Catholic Church honors several saints of the early Church — St. John the Baptist and St. Augustine of Hippo — but what do ancient saints have to teach us today in our post-modern world? St. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ (as well as his cousin) and […]