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December might be the craziest, most hectic month of the year. But it’s also a prime time to talk about Jesus! Tapping into the penitential season of Advent without crossing over into the joy of Christmas is nearly impossible. And really, the excitement is part of the fun. How can...
My doctor smiled as she entered the examination room and delivered the news I hoped to hear: “You’re good to go!” It had been two years since I learned that I had breast cancer, two years since I had had a mastectomy. Now, two years later, a mammogram confirmed what...
A winter storm of the dreaded type had descended on our town in the deep South. Ice was glossing tree limbs, power lines, and anything else above ground while sleet pelted roads and driveways. I was hoping to get through it all without losing electricity. As usual, I came down with...
The challenges posed today by migrants and refugees will be the focus of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees in 2016, according to Pope Francis. On September 12, the Holy Father wrote from the Vatican, “In our time, migration is growing worldwide. Refugees and people fleeing from their homes...
Waiting is a pain in the neck. Throughout history, humanity has steadily progressed toward ways to make our lives faster and easier. We now can access information instantaneously in virtual worlds of this and that and have virtually forgotten that patience is still a virtue. Also falling by the wayside are the...
According to a parable by St. Gregory of Nyssa, two people had been living in the dark. When one was given a glimpse of light, the two were no longer in darkness in the same way because the one who saw the fleeting light now knew there was a difference...
It’s December and almost Christmas. It’s also time (sigh) to hear about the “War on Christmas.” You probably have heard about this so-called war. Certain writers, commentators, and politicians assert that corporate America and the government are waging a war to remove “Christ” from Christmas. The story goes that only...
Advent invites us to clear the decks, become vulnerable, befriend our pain, dream great dreams, and gaze upon God’s great unveiling. Does Advent seem like a blur, a frenzied dash to prepare for Christmas? While that experience may be typical, there’s more to the season than that. In fact, Advent...
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...