Catholic. Pastoral. Trusted.
March 2013 In 100 years, the world will be different, but people will still try to make sense of it. What will be around to guide them? Who will be there to walk with them? A century ago, a group of Redemptorists teaching in a Wisconsin major seminary decided to...
In November, the Church focuses on the “life to come” aspect of Christianity. Days that commemorate the communion of saints and the faithful departed launch us into the month. The feast of Christ the King, which proclaims that the redemptive work of God is destined to embrace the life of...
Raising a family is hard work. Millions of small decisions make up the balancing act required to create a healthy home life for children. My hat’s off to the women and men who commit their lives to their families. They should take comfort in the Gospel’s reminders that even Jesus grew to maturity in the midst of the messiness of a home.
On a recent visit to my mother, I noticed a prayer posted on her refrigerator door: “Patient Trust,”* written by the French Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. I stopped to read it closely, especially these stanzas:
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
I turned 50 in May. When my physician informed me that I should steel myself for a gauntlet of medical tests, I added my voice to the chorus of people in and out of the health care industry asking, when does the testing get to be too much? When a...
In 1990 South Africa, it was evident that political inequality had to change. Soon after President F. W. de Klerk made a speech to parliament in which he called for a nonracist South Africa, a joke started making the rounds: Two solutions were in front of the country, one practical and the...
As we ring in this new year, we are given the opportunity to change our behaviors or attitudes. Catholics, of course, are encouraged to throw themselves wholeheartedly into this practice during Lent. However, counsel from all corners tells us there’s no time like the present to begin. So, too, with...
An old Chinese proverb says, “If your vision is for a year, plant wheat. If your vision is for ten years, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.” To build a future, we must fill people with hope and equip them with the resources to get...
Earlier this year Pope Benedict XVI gave a series of weekly addresses on the Doctors of the Church. On March 30 he spoke about Saint Alphonsus, saying he “had a realistically optimistic vision of the resources of good that the Lord gives to every person.” A lot in that statement...
“Just where is your head?” Growing up, I often got lost in my own world instead of focusing on whatever was at hand. I’ve since learned that I take in information primarily through listening. Unless I make an effort, I tend to miss a lot of nonauditory details—especially visuals—and what...
Living them, teaching them It’s important for us to let the seasons breathe in their proper way and to let them shape our lives. Spring shows death giving way to life as buds blossom from what appeared to be dead bushes. Summer heat saps our energy and hurts us if...
Part 2 of 2 Many individual faults and failings led to the economic crisis of the past three years, and it’s important to recognize that every personal problem carries consequences for society as a whole. Our ability to order our society depends on our ability to order our lives. To...
A colleague insists my glass is not half empty—she says it’s below sea level. So when January rolls around, I’m tempted to crawl under the covers and hide until the warm winds lure me into sunlight. During these bitter-cold months my mind fills with thoughts that take rather than give...
He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit...
May is the month for celebrating mothers, the women who teach us about love by communicating an acceptance and protection that tell us how important we are to them years before we understand their words. These same feelings of acceptance and security help us ratchet up our courage and take...