It wasn’t until I got poked by a handful of straw that I realized how uncomfortable it must have been for Baby Jesus to lay in His manger.

And it wasn’t until I tried to erect a nativity scene on our…

I have to hurry up and write this because if I don’t get it done in time the season will be past and it will be too late to do all of those things that people do this time of…

A few years back, I was standing in line at the grocery store, shuffling canned goods and boxes of cereal onto the conveyor belt, when a particularly raunchy Rolling Stone magazine cover caught my attention. The display was at eye-level with…

It was a warm summer evening, not quite dark, but blue-lit and past the point of shadows. The kids were running through the gardens with empty pickle jars and bare hands chasing fireflies and having middling success.

“It’s ridiculous,” I said…

America! America!
God mend thine ev’ry flaw
Confirm thy soul in self-control
Thy liberty in law! — Katharine Lee Bates, America the Beautiful

You might think of America’s national hymn, “America the Beautiful” as a poetic look at the nation’s landscapes but it’s actually a…

My sister is a Discalced Carmelite nun. For more than 30 years she has remained within the walls of a cloistered monastery living an austere and joyous life of prayer, sacrifice and community life centered on Jesus Christ and in…

As the month of May — Mary’s month — comes to a close, our awareness of the Blessed Virgin’s significance in our own lives shouldn’t end with a time of the year. She is an example par excellence of living Christ’s…

The pavement can be brutal outside an abortion clinic. It can be controversial, even dangerous, but most of the time it’s quietly tense with little to encourage those who stand and speak for pre-born babies and their right to live.…

If someone approached you with the following advice, would you perk up your ears and listen?

“I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes…

It’s in the trenches of everyday parenthood that I most clearly hear God speak to me. No, I don’t have visions or mystic revelations, and I don’t hear voices. To tell the truth, I hear only one voice — my…