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May-June 2014 As you read this, Fr. Don Willard and I are approaching our first anniversary as the leadership team at Liguori Publications. It often feels like mere weeks since we started. As did our predecessor, Redemptorist Fr. Mat Kessler, I like to keep you updated on what’s happening at...
The Source of Life Exploring the Mystery of the Eucharist CHRISTOPH CARDINAL SCHÖNBORN IGNATIUS PRESS $16.95 The Eucharist is the sign by which Christians have been known since the earliest days of the Church. “They met in their houses for the breaking of bread,” we read in Acts of the...
May/June 2014 When the Communists were trying to take over Spain during the Spanish Civil War, an event caught the attention of many people. The Alcázar, an ancient fortress and training school for Spanish army officers, was under the command of Colonel José Moscardó. When Moscardó was ordered to surrender...
May/June 2014 Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has reflected on the Virgin Mary’s place in the divine mystery. Recent popes have positioned Mary as one who, by her acceptance of the message of the angel at the annunciation, became the dwelling place of the Incarnate Word. The early...
May/June 2014 "Most, if not all, Catholics at some point find themselves worrying about the future of the Church." When I was in the college seminary, a venerable old Redemptorist came for a visit and said, “I met the seminarians, and I am not impressed.” I heard other comments about...
May-June 2014 Faith grows only when it is stretched. Since the moment Pope Francis first appeared on the balcony at St. Peter’s, he has been engaging the world. He energizes us and at the same time challenges us to actively participate in our faith. Most of us would rather practice...
The Road of Hope A Gospel From Prison Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan New City Press $16.95 How wonderful it would be, Cardinal Thuan supposes, if we were required to love only God. But we’re also commanded “the difficult obligation to love our neighbor.” For the author, former Coadjutor Archbishop...
April 2014 The first time it happened, I was speechless. A mother had come to the rectory. She didn’t like the answer she’d gotten from the parish school’s principal about the importance of timely tuition payments. When I gave her the same answer, she screamed at me. She called me...
April 2014 It’s really hard to say “I’m sorry.” Maybe it’s a pride thing. We want to believe we’re good people, and rightly or wrongly, admitting fault calls that into question. Plus, it leaves us vulnerable. There’s always a chance that the other person won’t accept our apology. We no...
Let me start by acknowledging that I’m a big fan of pop culture. I don’t like everything, but pop culture offers music, movies, art, books, and other works that can be entertaining, energetic, and redeeming. So please note that I speak here as a fan of pop culture. But pop...
Gospel Time Trekkers Danger at Sea Braving the Storm Shepherds to the Rescue MARIA GRACE DATENO; ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL CUNNINGHAM PAULINE BOOKS $5.99 EACH Meet Noah, Hannah, and Caleb, three rather ordinary siblings who travel back to the time of Jesus and are ind for extraordinary adventure. These three books...
March 2014 The human brain works better when we walk. We think more clearly and more creatively. Our memories get better. We learn things more quickly and more completely. Our concentration is stronger. Walking reduces the risk of stroke, heart attack, and other health problems. You may know all this...
A painter always had plenty of work because he thinned his paint with water, so he was always the lowest bidder on jobs. One day a church invited bids for the exterior of the church to be repainted. Again, he was the low bidder and won the job. As he...
March 2014 The story is often told of a father and daughter who were part of a traveling circus in Poland during World War II. During their act, the teenage daughter would jump from a high wire—without a net—and her father would catch her. One morning the father had gone...
March 2014 The power of an icon lies in the sacred presence it invites us into as we pray and read the image before us. (Iconographers use the word written instead of painted because icons are considered another way of writing the gospel message. Therefore, instead of simply looking at...
March 2014 "The willingness to fall and the ability to fall ‘just right’ are invaluable". You probably don’t remember your first steps. It’s part of the collage of “firsts” that moms and dads want to record and remember forever. We struggle to stand, wobble, tumble, and then start again—and...
March 2014 "Jesus didn’t just sit on a mountainside telling nice stories". A popular Christian blogger once wrote that we need one thing and one thing only: Jesus. At first blush, the catch phrase “just Jesus” makes a lot of sense. Christianity is, after all, a lifelong pursuit of...
Young in the Spirit Spiritual Strengthening for Seniors and Caregivers Mary K. Doyle 3E Press $10.95 We’re getting older by the minute, individually and globally. More people are living far into their senior years. Scientific and technological advances offer significant resources and assistance, but getting to a ripe old age...
February 2014 In her autobiography, The Long Loneliness (HarperOne, 2009), Dorothy Day shares her experience with prayer. She was a single mother living on her own and lacking money, with no clue as to what to do with her life. She went to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception...
February 2014 Iconographers painting the face of Our Mother of Perpetual Help use a fourth-century style to describe what our Blessed Mother looks like. This description circulated throughout the churches of Syria and Greece, where early iconography developed. This distinct form is taken from ancient fragments of a manuscript attributed...