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Family, the Church, and the Real World Redemptorist Pastoral Publication Liguori Publications $14.99 Understanding Church teaching is essential for an authentic personal relationship with God, but we need more. We need support in the ways we might connect this wisdom to daily living, especially our significant relationships. Deep within, we...
As I remember it, I was five when I opened the door to a strange visitor who showed up at our house on Halloween. He or she was taller than most trick-or-treaters and wore a makeshift costume of a long coat and one of those hard plastic masks, the kind...
A continuation of Liguorian’s series: The spiritual works of mercy Instructing the ignorant Counseling the doubtful Admonishing sinners Bearing wrongs patiently Forgiving offenses Comforting the afflicted Pray for the Living and the Dead In the crypts and upon some of the reliquaries found in many of the churches and basilicas...
My mother asked me to go with her to help prearrange her funeral. A little time has passed since she first asked. We haven’t gone yet, so I’ve had some time to think about it. Slogans like, “Save now, rest in peace later,” and, “We put them in the ground,...
Meet Liguori Publications new President, Fr. Byron Miller, CSsR. November, 2015 marks Fr. Miller’s first “From the President” column. I hadn’t heard from Vernon in decades—until an email last summer made a sacred trinity of time—past, present, and future—converge at midlife. As it turns out, his daughter and my sister’s son...
Question: What are the four last things to be ever remembered?Answer: The four last things to be ever remembered are Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven. —The Penny Catechism It is a widely accepted axiom among people in publishing circles that books about cooking and dieting routinely draw a far greater...
I was young when my great-grandparents passed away. I remember being afraid of them. I was intimidated by their vast age and had difficulty communicating with them. So it has been a beautiful thing for me to see my children developing relationships with their great grandmothers—relationships that cross the boundaries...
More than 100 years ago, in a tiny mountain village hidden in the Pyrenees, our Lady appeared to Bernadette, a fourteen-year-old peasant. Since then, Lourdes has become a center of Christian devotion—perhaps the greatest Christian shrine to our Lady. A journalist once asked a priest visiting Lourdes, “What is the...
Redemptorists invite Liguorian readers to join them in the preparations leading to June 27, 2016—the 150th anniversary of the celebration of our order’s charge to restore public veneration to the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Please help us continue the worldwide celebration that began April 26 by praying...
Prayer is not easy for me, much less for my kids. In fact, I fail far more than I succeed. Any success I have is credited to the Holy Spirit and some miracle of my cooperation. Maybe you struggle with prayer, too. Here are some things I’ve found useful in...
My cell phone rang at 5 a.m. I didn’t recognize the number—but I recognized my mom’s voice on the other end of the line. “There’s been a fire,” she explained. “We’re OK.” My parents had been staying at their vacation condo in Florida. A neighbor’s porch caught fire early in...
Each of us has a cross to carry. Some are quite visible. Others are not. How we carry them may lead others to Christ or steer them away. Jesus said, “Take up [your] cross, and follow me”(Matt 16:24). Today my thoughts are on a young friend who is having a wisdom...
In this life, we see only fragments of God’s plan. God sees the whole of his creation, and it is good. Holding nine-day-old baby Peter, my daughter Sharla lingered with me at the table in her Chicago town-home kitchen. Her husband, David, washed lunch remainders from three-year-old Michael’s face. The...
The Red Nuns, as they are called, see themselves as global missionaries connected to the world through their fervent offerings to Christ on behalf of others. A sense of fulfillment, joy, and community seems to be the recurring message shared by the Redemptoristine nuns. Their eyes were bright, their smiles broad, and their spirits...
In recognition of the Year of Consecrated Life, here’s a look at six not-so-well-known saints that started religious orders. Ignatius. Francis. Elizabeth Ann. Do you know the religious order each one established? In order, the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and the Sisters of Charity are well-known among Catholics and non-Catholics alike....
It was the summer before my senior year of college. I decided not to work that summer so I could take a handful of credits to ensure my graduation the following spring semester. So like most students, I went looking for that “throwaway” course. I found it in an art...
Iwould like to know how a text message gets from one cell phone to another. And how does it get there without getting mixed up with other text messages? Where do text messages go after they are deleted? Is there a “text message landfill” somewhere with old texts, emoticons, and...
It’s no secret that the idea of dedicating one’s life totally to God is deeply countercultural. It can be disheartening to see the nearly universal depiction of priests and religious on prime-time TV as people who have failed to live up to their vocations. When we see the aging face...
I recently received the July-August issue of the Liguorian in the mail and was touched by an article I read titled “The Leap” by William Stoos [about a man’s positive experience after changing jobs]. My family is going through a difficult time financially, and his article really spoke to us! My...
This is a year to celebrate consecrated life. It’s a year to be thankful that so many women and men have given themselves to the Lord’s service through evangelical councils. By taking the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, men and women have deepened their baptismal calling and given their lives...