Catholic. Pastoral. Trusted.
Epiphany, when we remember the Wise Men who knelt before the Son of God to pay him homage, will always be a personal favorite day on our Church calendar. On one momentous January 5—the eve of Epiphany fifty-nine years ago—my parents, my brother, and I left our Cuban hometown of...
Prescribed by the US Constitution, the oath of office of the president is a key part of the inauguration ceremony. It symbolizes the peaceful transition of power. The National Constitution Center, located in the cradle of US liberty—Philadelphia—offers a list detailing the use of the Bible at presidential inaugural ceremonies....
As we limp from the upheaval and uncertainty of 2020 and tip-toe carefully into 2021, do you think we should dub the first full year of COVID-19 as the worst twelve-month span of time in US history? Or is the pandemic going to get worse? In an article published in...
We Redemptorists follow the example of our founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his love for Mary, as we continue to preach and provide resources on the place of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Catholic tradition. Since the 1950s, those who devote their life to teaching about Mary in Catholic practice...
When the Blessed Virgin said to the angel Gabriel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38), her life changed forever. Mary fully embraced our Savior in body and mind, heart, and soul. Our Lady embraced the new...
Navigating a relationship without effective communication is like trying to steer a sailboat with a torn sail, a damaged rudder, and no wind. The result is little to no progression, frustration, and fear. Poor communication exacerbates relationship problems and lessens the likelihood of success for everyone involved. While we may...
I received a peculiar gift at a recent parish visit. It’s a statue of St. Joseph, asleep. Joseph is curled up with his head on his traveling bag. His eyes are closed. He’s peaceful and still. I was told the image depicts Joseph dreaming. That could be. Angels appeared to...
COVID-19 has upended our grieving and mourning rituals, but as parishes begin to reopen, there are actions Catholics can take to enable those who have lost loved ones to mourn in a safe place.
In recent articles I wrote about the Litany of Our Lady of Loreto. In this litany we address many titles of prayer to Our Lady, one of which is “Ark of the Covenant.” As we know from Exodus 25:10, God requested Moses to build an ark and sanctuary where he...
Liguorian published an article on voting in September titled “The Faithful Vote: Taking a well-informed con-science to the polls.” In the past couple of months, this article generated more letters, emails, and voicemails than all our content from the past two years combined—the equivalent of about 120 columns and eighty...
After Mass, a parishioner approached me. Her words reached me well before she did. “Father, this time around the question isn’t which candidate to vote for, it’s, ‘Should I vote or not?’” I wondered how many people are mulling over the same thought. This presidential election year, it’s no surprise...
At the heart of most stress-filled experiences is a premature or, at the very least, a half-baked yes. We can all relate to finding ourselves in a situation where, once fully immersed, we question how or why we got there. Recall the times you’ve agreed to do something and later...
When our Blessed Mother appeared before three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917, Mary said: “Pray the rosary every day.” We cannot emphasize enough the importance of prayer. Without prayer, we cut ourselves off from our Lord’s amazing graces. God’s love is essential, especially in great difficulty. Consider Fátima’s...
Perhaps it is the presence of Valentine’s Day: February is widely recognized as the month in which people fall in love. (I know this was true for my late husband and me!) Love has many lessons. Some can only be learned in retrospect. I wrote this reflection for a beautiful...
The company that manages our electrical service called our parish one day. The agent said the company would do a free energy audit. The audit would produce a report detailing the ways we could save energy and lower our bill. The company also offered us energy-saving light bulbs, free. We’ve...
In the tradition of the Church, we have many forms of liturgical prayers that honor Mary. Litanies, among the oldest forms of prayer, incorporate petitions and titles for God or a saint. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most well-known of this...
Have you ever been in a relationship—professional, personal, or familial—in which you felt as if you couldn’t do anything right? When faced with overbearing personalities who tend to critique/criticize every minute detail of my actions, I become hypersensitive. Nerves take over. Common sense flies out the window. I become so...
Though we’ve experienced much uncertainty recently—particularly in relation to the spread of the Coronavirus—when it comes to our faith, there is always one certainty. We can always come together in prayer. Prayer is possible so often…as we walk, as we shop, as we wash our hands, and even as we...
People tend to take things for granted. Americans in particular exhibit an orientation to life that can become so ingrained that it provides the lens through which we understand ourselves and evaluate others. If we fail to widen our focus, we risk becoming ethnocentric, a trait that can be positive...
A ton of turmoil abounds around the globe. From navigating the uncharted waters of the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, to the economic and social hardships the threat of the virus has wrought, to the numerous other challenges people face, many find it difficult, if not impossible, to attain...