Catholic. Pastoral. Trusted.
I wanted to be a writer when I was still a little girl. Dad was a newspaperman and, longing to imitate him, I learned to type on his old manual Royal typewriter. I still cannot set down a drink to the right of my keyboard because, as I learned the hard way, the carriage return would send it flying. (I can just hear my children: “Carriage return? What’s that?!”)
A friend, widowed and with no children at home, has a house that’s too big for her. She dreams of a small, economical apartment, but she won’t move. Why? Too much stuff. Her attic and garage and basement are full, her closets and drawers heaping with old clothes and handbags, dishes, tools she never uses, and books she’ll never read.
I remember very lonely Christmases, when I was too old for a child’s Christmas and too young to have a family of my own. Then in my early twenties I happened upon The Wounded Healer by Father Henri Nouwen, which inspired me to consider what was missing in my life as the very source from which I could be a blessing to others. I talked to a friend who was also without family, and we decided to spend Christmas providing meals to shut-ins who lived in our downtown parish.
Iwas thirteen when The Byrds released their recording of Pete Seeger’s song “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season).” It was a hard time in our family, and I sang this song with little understanding. I thought I’d always be sad.
October is Respect Life Month. I’d like to avoid this subject. I’d rather write about something we all agree on—like the beauty of fall foliage or the importance of regular exercise or the sweetness of my growing grandchildren (ages five, three, and one, thank you for asking).
One of the things that weighs heavily on the family budget is the cost of health care: insurance premiums, co-pays, doctor bills. But for the estimated 47 million Americans without health insurance, the possibility of a family member’s needing major medical care is indeed frightening.
We adopted our sons from Guatemala. First, Philip; when Philip was two, his baby brother, Nate; and six months after that, Dan, a ten-year-old I met at the orphanage. And so it was that Philip, once an only and for a brief time the oldest, became our middle child.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”—Matthew 11:28Reading these words of Jesus during July, the month we celebrate American Independence Day, I’m reminded of Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus,” which is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty:...
As a young priest in Denver, Colorado, I was once asked to accompany a family at the graveside of their infant son, who had died during childbirth. I knew only that they were Spanish-speaking and that I would need to perform the ritual in Spanish. I met the family at the small grave; they were a young couple with a four-year-old daughter. No other friends or family were present, which told me that they were recently arrived immigrants. They were poor and alone.
[On Pentecost] devout Jews from every nation…gathered…and each one heard [the others] speaking in the native language of each.—ACTS 2:5–6We adopted our sons from Guatemala. Two of them came into our family as tiny babies, and I find it amusing when people ask if they had trouble learning English (they...
Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?—LUKE 24:32 In my part of the world, April is not a time to think about self-improvement and other interior matters. We do that in January, in...
Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, we hear about Jesus preparing for his ministry by going into the desert and arguing with the devil. One of my sons, upon hearing that Jesus was offered the power to turn stones into bread, mumbled under his breath that Jesus should...
Dorothy never thought of her hospitality as Catholic social teaching, but she modeled it perfectly. She and her husband, Wally, had the means to build a country home ninety minutes from their suburban St. Louis, Missouri, neighborhood, but they never thought of it as theirs in any exclusive sense. They understood the principle of the common good and shared their country home with anyone who needed space and time away. Local peace and justice groups and Catholic Worker residents, as well as extended family members and friends, treasured it as a place for personal renewal.
Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done with me according to your word.—Luke 1:38 I wish I could always muster a classy yes like Mary’s. “Let it be done with me according to your word” is a far cry from my usual “OK, if you...
“I loved my job and had no intention of leaving, but when I saw that ad, I knew it was the job I was meant to have,” Tom Gorski prefaced his remarks about his decision to embark on a second career. Seven years ago at the age of fifty-five, Gorski—who during his thirty years at TWA had moved from the position of ticket agent in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to that of vice president of airport operations in the United States—took a pay cut to become vice president of Catholic Charities in St. Louis, Missouri.
Author Guidelines To have freelance manuscripts considered for publication in Liguorian magazine, please observe the following guidelines: 1. Articles must not exceed 2,200 words. Personal essays should be limited to 1,000. Fiction submissions should be approximately 2,000 words. Style and vocabulary should be popular and readable. Use an interest-grabbing opening,...
Each year the Catholic Press Association recognizes excellence in journalism. Liguorian received the following CPA awards in 2011: Best Essay – 1st place, awarded for The Intercessor, from the November 2010 Liguorian. "A powerful story, told with real skill, polish, and humanity. The writer’s humility allows the reader...
Would you like to have a Redemptorist visit your parish? Through our Parish Preaching program, Liguorian offers the opportunity to have a Redemptorist preach a homily at all weekend Masses. Emphasizing sacred Scripture, his topic is "Growth in Faith Through Catholic Reading and Liguorian." Benefits for Parish Priests: Liguorian provides...
Liguorian was inaugurated in March 1913 by five Redemptorist priests, professors in the Redemptorist seminary in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The name Liguorian honors the founder of the Redemptorists, Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, who was a prolific and talented spiritual writer. Liguorian’s first issue had a print run of five hundred...