Catholic. Pastoral. Trusted.
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...
Advent and Christmas Wisdom From Pope Francis John Cleary Liguori Publications $11.99 The commencement of a new liturgical year each Advent always includes an invitation, the Holy Father suggests in this book. The Church invites us to pray “come,” to draw closer to the loving Jesus as we anticipate and...
Out of the Crayons of Babes Christmas approached, a Sunday school teacher asked the children in her class to draw pictures of the Nativity scene. The children eagerly began to draw pictures of the stable, Mary, and Joseph, Baby Jesus, the shepherds, the wise men, and animals. She noticed that...
The September 2015 issue of Liguorian really had me scratching my head. Fr. Bruce Lewandowski’s article “One World, Two Views” seems to provide a simplistic narrative of a Church pitted against itself—a “pre-Vatican II” evil Church vs. a “post-Vatican II” enlightened Church. What exactly was the point of this article and...
Derek Becher Lights of color beautify the church this holy night; Poinsettias ’round the altar with their petals, soft and bright. Everlasting evergreens adorn the sanctuary, Behind the wooden Joseph and the Blessed Mother, Mary. In front of them is resting the divine Nativity; A simple grotto shelters heaven’s Holy...
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...
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...
Praying the Rosary: A Journey Through Scripture and Art Fr. Denis McBride, CSsR Liguori Publications $19.99 Meditating on the rosary—one of our most sacred devotions—we are invited to look, to listen, and to look again. We are encouraged not simply to recite prescribed prayers but to move beyond our recitation,...
I found the cover of the March issue of Liguorian very troubling: A man is sitting on the floor of an Episcopal Church in a labyrinth. Inside the magazine, a short blurb states: “Walking the labyrinth is recognized as a form of meditation. The three common stages are purgation (releasing), illumination (receiving), and union (returning).” The logic of this statement escapes me: “releasing,” “receiving,” and “returning” what? That...
I congratulate you on a particularly fine issue of Liguorian (February 2015). You present a panorama of areas—from global to personal areas of present-day American life—in which the theme is overcoming the evils of hatred due to differences. You touched on topics that reflect great tension in the lives of...
By: Richard Mark Dixon Underwear, shirts, socks, and school uniforms hung on a wire between two willows. Empty feet and legs opened and kicked with wind as if waiting for flesh and bone to fill them once again. Our church van drove past the waving toes and collars and parked...
By: Andrew L. Minto, PhD Patiently?” she asked. “Yes,” I replied, “the virtue of patience is how one bears the wrongs that have been done to us.” “So if I am being patient, then what am I waiting for? What is supposed to happen when you are patient? And why...
By Lisa Grey As a child, I loved playing “mommy” to my dolls. I couldn’t wait to grow up and have my own children. Years later, my dreams of being a mom became tarnished. It happened when I realized that I found my eldest stepchild to be, well, challenging to...
…Of fried-egg sandwiches, Dad’s relationship with his maker, and other treasured memories of childhood. It’s funny how different people and events influence our lives. One of my earliest memories is going fishing with my dad when I was about six years old and being exposed to the grandeur and glory...
She’s Doing What!? A mother and her youngest daughter wrote out the Ten Commandments and posted them in their home. Not long after, the youngest reported that her older sister was sinning. The mother asked why, and she replied, “She is committing adultery.” Later, the parents had a private conversation...
Thanks to one statement in Fr. Dennis J. Billy’s article (March 2015), I can admit during the time that I was a nonpracticing Catholic, my experience of “foretasting of heaven” started. My first “intense experience of the divine” was in 2002, when I was driven to my heavenly home by...
I always enjoy reading Fr. Bruce Lewandowski’s “Plain Talk” column in Liguorian. His contribution in the December 2014 issue [on how Jesus teaches that we can be salvation for each other] was exceptionally thought-provoking. I am sharing it with my Bible study and St. Theresa Guild at church. Both groups...
The Cloud of Unknowing Fr. Dennis J. Billy, CSsR Liguori Publications $19.99 Few would dispute that our active lives can intrude upon our ability to focus when we pray. It seems twas ever thus. Seven hundred years ago, The Cloud of Unknowing was written in Middle English, a work of...
Think About These… In the midst of darkness, Jesus is still the light. You don’t need collateral to borrow trouble. God gives us a face but we must choose the expression. Don’t worry about tomorrow. You did that yesterday.” Sign in a Pennsylvania cemetery: “Persons are prohibited from picking flowers except...
Heavenly rank My father was stationed at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY, when I was a young girl. Every “Army brat” who lived on the post was very aware of the acronym R.H.I.P., which means, “Rank has its privileges.” My mother taught a religion class at the Catholic...