In his everyday spirituality, St. Francis de Sales counsels us to begin at the beginning. Making God a part of that first conscious­ness of the new day starts things out on the right footing. Thus, St Francis’ Spiritual Directory opens with this exhortation: First of all on awakening, we are to direct our minds completely to […]

One of the most frustrating things in the spiritual life can be our seeming lack of progress. We pray, we go to Mass, we confess, we read books—and yet we seem to have little to show for it. It is easy to get frustrated, to give up and to put our spiritual life on the backburner. […]

Be converted, the kingdom of God is at hand. These are the first world we hear from the lips of Our Blessed Savior as He initiates His Public ministry. Conversion in Greek is Metanoia, meaning change of heart. The core of the teaching of the Precursor of Jesus, St. John the Baptist, was the same, […]

When we think of great mystics and wonder-working saints, we often think of those who lived centuries ago. Yet, St. Pio of Pietrelcina was both a mystic and a performer of many miracles—and he died in 1968, only 46 years ago. In many ways, this saint was and is a contradiction to our scientific, rational age, and despite their eagerness […]

  “Daybreak is a never-ending glory, getting out of bed is a never-ending nuisance.” – G.K. Chesterton For the past year or so, I’ve been getting out of bed earlier than I ever have. Don’t get me wrong, it can be hard, and I still hit the snooze button more often than I’d like, but […]

Recently, a horribly raunchy movie made national headlines because it contained over 500 uses of the f-word. Yeah, it was obscenely obscene, and obviously, that level of profanity is unusual. But the fact is, vulgarities are becoming commonplace in music, movies, literature, and everyday language. This growing trend raises the question— is profanity a sin? Is it […]

Today, we continue our series on how to prepare for a good Lent by focusing on the first of the three pillars: prayer. “Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.” – […]

When I first converted to Catholicism, I was overwhelmed by the wealth of devotions Catholics practiced. There was devotion to the five wounds of Christ, the brown scapular, the green scapular, the Divine Mercy chaplet, devotion to the Holy Face, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Rosary, devotion to the Sacred Heart, devotion […]