Catholic. Pastoral. Trusted.
Father, my car broke down on the highway and my wife and children are waiting on the side of the road. Can you give me money to fix the car?” Based on the frequency of this request, priests could be most helpful in ministry if we operated a car-towing service....
A mother sent her little girl to the store with instructions to come home immediately after making her purchase. When she returned more than an hour late, her worried mother asked, “What took you so long?” “I’m sorry, Mommy, for being late, but Annie broke her doll and I stopped...
On his eighty-first birthday in 1962, Saint John XXIII said, “Any day is a good day to be born and any day is a good day to die.” Six months later, he was dead. On the other hand, according to Margaret Mitchell, there’s never a convenient time for “death and...
The poet John Keats wrote, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” However, several art restoration projects gone awry in recent years suggest otherwise. Consider, for example, the seventeenth-century Spanish artist Bartolomé Murillo’s painting of the Virgin Mary disfigured by a furniture restorer in 2020; a wooden fifteenth-century statue...
“Welcome to our parish, Father. Do you have the Mass this morning?” grumbled the woman in the sacristy. “Yes. I’ll be taking your good pastor’s place at all three Masses today,” the replacement priest replied. “Anything I should know?” “Well, Father, we prefer no incense; it sets off the smoke...
Children know thirty to forty offensive words by the time they enter school, suggests data from psychology professors Timothy Jay and Kristin Janschewitz, though no one knows if kids are aware of what the words mean. Likewise, children may not fully understand all the words they use in prayer. I’ve...
May all your troubles in the coming year be as short-lived as your New Year’s resolutions,” quipped an anonymous realist. Recall the ambitious list of resolutions often created with good intentions at the beginning of each year—intentions to start walking, stop smoking, floss more, fuss less, lose weight, gain indulgences…you...
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...
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...
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...
When I was a student at Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH, my faith gradually came to life. Already I had a good sacramental life. I participated in the eucharistic celebration every day, experienced reconciliation weekly, and studied the Catechism. In short, I was a good Catholic. But at the university I had the opportunity to...
The World Meeting of Families will occur September 22–27 in Philadelphia. As the preparations continue, it is important to reflect on the importance of family life. We pass on traditions that give our lives special meaning in our families. The signs and symbols that have meaning in our families form...
Our Blessed Mother has many titles. One of the most honored is Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This title is associated with the icon that was given to the Redemptorists by Pope Pius IX when he requested the Redemptorist Missionaries to make her known. As a Redemptorist, this icon is...
Christ is risen! Alleluia! Easter is the greatest celebration in our liturgical calendar. The first Easter was the day when the Lord rose triumphantly from the grave. It was the day when hope was restored, faith was renewed, and charity prevailed. The tomb was empty, and death lost her age-old...
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists, was known to tell people: Pray always, and if you cannot pray, pray that you can pray. He understood that prayer is an essential part of Christian life. This ongoing communication with the Divine gives us the opportunity to express our needs, wants, desires,...
I have been blessed to have visited many countries: Canada, Mexico, China, Thailand, Germany, and Italy to name a few. My travels have allowed me to experience wonderful and variant cultures. I’ve found that all of humanity yearns for God. And while each person may express his or her need for God in a different...
God disappointed me deeply when I was 8. At that age, my nascent understanding of the power of God and my developing interest in gadgets overlapped and caused my brain to generate what I thought at the time to be an awesome idea. I prayed fervently, intensely, longingly, devoutly, and...
In his column From the President Liguori Publications President, Fr. Donald Willard, CSsR, offers pastoral and theological insight to connect the reader with the spiritual message of each issue. The Rev. Willard was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 2008. Raised on a farm near Pittsfield, IL, he attended...
September 2014 Social responsibility and awareness are vital to the Christian moral life. This is because there are no individual Christians. By its very nature, the Catholic Church is a community. A person can’t baptize, anoint, or get married by her- or himself. All the sacraments involve a community. Even...
July-August 2014 We all have moments when we need healing in our lives. Maybe we suffer from an illness or just the wear of years on our bodies. Or maybe we need healing for hurts to our soul or mind. The Church offers us a wonderful sacrament, the anointing of...