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Being one global family means we are “us”; there is no “them”. 1 Corinthians 13 reveals the key ingredient that our global family needs now more than ever. I don’t know if there has ever been a year that more people have wished was over than 2020. If you’re like...
In the New Testament, only Matthew and Luke tell us about Jesus’ birth and youth. Our Christmas cribs harmonize and intermingle details from those two Gospels, but if you read the accounts without that conditioning, you will find that they diverge on many points, for neither evangelist was simply recording...
Catholics in two regions exemplify how to answer the call of Christ Jim Graves Today the number of homeless people in the United States is higher than the number of people who have their own home in America’s 32nd-largest city (Albuquerque, New Mexico, population 560,000). US data says the total...
At a Mass I attended recently, the priest gave an interesting homily on Luke 12. He explained that, depending on our choices in life, God’s spiritual fire could either be cleansing or destructive. While this seemed reasonable, his comments about voting during this election season were debatable. He challenged the...
There’s an incomprehensible quality to empathy that only the soul can grasp. It carries us to a place where we forget ourselves and take up the cross of another to shoulder their burden of suffering for a while. In that holy realm where we embody another’s grief, those afflictions are...
The highest form of charity is that shown to those unable to reciprocate and perhaps even to thank us in return.—Pope Francis Long before immigrants, refugees, and migrants became the subjects of modern-day hot-button political debates, the Catholic Church addressed the question of whether people have the right to emigrate...
Epiphany, when we remember the Wise Men who knelt before the Son of God to pay him homage, will always be a personal favorite day on our Church calendar. On one momentous January 5—the eve of Epiphany fifty-nine years ago—my parents, my brother, and I left our Cuban hometown of...
Prescribed by the US Constitution, the oath of office of the president is a key part of the inauguration ceremony. It symbolizes the peaceful transition of power. The National Constitution Center, located in the cradle of US liberty—Philadelphia—offers a list detailing the use of the Bible at presidential inaugural ceremonies....
“You shall be my people and I will be your God.” Ezekiel 36:28 Liguorian continues its tradition, begun in 2020, of publishing profiles of people who have served in ministry most of their lives. In 2021, the subjects will be women religious. A title will spotlight a favorite Bible passage...
As we limp from the upheaval and uncertainty of 2020 and tip-toe carefully into 2021, do you think we should dub the first full year of COVID-19 as the worst twelve-month span of time in US history? Or is the pandemic going to get worse? In an article published in...
We Redemptorists follow the example of our founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his love for Mary, as we continue to preach and provide resources on the place of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Catholic tradition. Since the 1950s, those who devote their life to teaching about Mary in Catholic practice...
When the Blessed Virgin said to the angel Gabriel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38), her life changed forever. Mary fully embraced our Savior in body and mind, heart, and soul. Our Lady embraced the new...
Navigating a relationship without effective communication is like trying to steer a sailboat with a torn sail, a damaged rudder, and no wind. The result is little to no progression, frustration, and fear. Poor communication exacerbates relationship problems and lessens the likelihood of success for everyone involved. While we may...
I received a peculiar gift at a recent parish visit. It’s a statue of St. Joseph, asleep. Joseph is curled up with his head on his traveling bag. His eyes are closed. He’s peaceful and still. I was told the image depicts Joseph dreaming. That could be. Angels appeared to...
COVID-19 has upended our grieving and mourning rituals, but as parishes begin to reopen, there are actions Catholics can take to enable those who have lost loved ones to mourn in a safe place.
In recent articles I wrote about the Litany of Our Lady of Loreto. In this litany we address many titles of prayer to Our Lady, one of which is “Ark of the Covenant.” As we know from Exodus 25:10, God requested Moses to build an ark and sanctuary where he...
Liguorian published an article on voting in September titled “The Faithful Vote: Taking a well-informed con-science to the polls.” In the past couple of months, this article generated more letters, emails, and voicemails than all our content from the past two years combined—the equivalent of about 120 columns and eighty...
After Mass, a parishioner approached me. Her words reached me well before she did. “Father, this time around the question isn’t which candidate to vote for, it’s, ‘Should I vote or not?’” I wondered how many people are mulling over the same thought. This presidential election year, it’s no surprise...
At the heart of most stress-filled experiences is a premature or, at the very least, a half-baked yes. We can all relate to finding ourselves in a situation where, once fully immersed, we question how or why we got there. Recall the times you’ve agreed to do something and later...
America’s first Army chaplains supported soldiers during the American Revolution. They provided religious and pastoral care for the living and the dead, administered rites, and sometimes carried arms to join their congregations into battle. Chaplains have been by the sides of US soldiers and sailors ever since, in peace and...
When our Blessed Mother appeared before three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917, Mary said: “Pray the rosary every day.” We cannot emphasize enough the importance of prayer. Without prayer, we cut ourselves off from our Lord’s amazing graces. God’s love is essential, especially in great difficulty. Consider Fátima’s...
Perhaps it is the presence of Valentine’s Day: February is widely recognized as the month in which people fall in love. (I know this was true for my late husband and me!) Love has many lessons. Some can only be learned in retrospect. I wrote this reflection for a beautiful...
Our new parish priest was lean but muscular, with silver hair juxtaposed against a leathery, sun-tanned face. Perched on the steps of the church rectory, his dark-as-polished-pinewood eyes squinted into the July sun as he watched me, Minuto, a lad of fifteen, pinch-faced and wiry, with strands of pitch-black hair...
The company that manages our electrical service called our parish one day. The agent said the company would do a free energy audit. The audit would produce a report detailing the ways we could save energy and lower our bill. The company also offered us energy-saving light bulbs, free. We’ve...
Alcoholism may be one of humanity’s oldest addictions. Wine and other intoxicating beverages—along with their potential to cause problems—have been with us since the development of agriculture. In the Book of Genesis, Noah—a good farmer—planted a vineyard. And, after harvesting grapes, he promptly “drank some of the wine, became drunk,...
In the tradition of the Church, we have many forms of liturgical prayers that honor Mary. Litanies, among the oldest forms of prayer, incorporate petitions and titles for God or a saint. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most well-known of this...