Steadfast in Tragedy: Our Lady, Mother of the Sorrowful Mysteries

The Sorrowful Mysteries, traditionally prayed on Tuesday and Friday year-round, are a familiar element of Our Lady’s rosary. During the solemn season of Lent, however, the Sorrowful Mysteries in particular take on a deeper, more spiritually challenging significance – making them an even more valuable tool for our Lenten prayer and contemplation.

Read the rest…

Joseph of Nazareth: The Strong, Silent, Just Man

Joseph of Nazareth has been a trusted confidant, beloved father figure, and favorite saint to me over a span of many years. Researching his life, I am reassured; I have chosen my mentor well. The same sterling characteristics – faithful, compassionate, humble, hard-working, obedient, strong, protective – reveal themselves over and over again in his story. Those, and countless other positive adjectives, make up the portrait of a righteous man whose life was centered on God and family.

Read the rest…

Small Things Done With Great Love

Helen Keller with Anne Sullivan in 1888 (Photo courtesy of Wikicommons)

By Ellen Mongan

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks, as if they were great and noble.” Who do you think said that? St. Therese, the little flower of Jesus? St. Teresa of Calcutta? St. Teresa of Avila? No! The correct answer is Helen Keller.

Read the rest…

Meet Venerable Conchita: Mystic, Messenger to Priests, & Spiritual Mother

Declared Venerable by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II on December 20, 1999, Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (Conchita) (1862-1937), born in Mexico, into a pious Catholic family, was a married woman, mother of nine children, foundress of the five Works of the Cross and a great mystic of the Mexican Church.

Read the rest…

For Your Marriage: Dealing with the Empty Nest

by Judy Clark

The Situation

Tom and Maribeth are college sweethearts married 29 years. They feel they have a stable marriage that has involved raising four children. It has been a wild ride of parenthood with a few hair-raising experiences. Still, they both agree that all four have been successfully launched into adulthood. And now that their youngest has recently married, they are truly an “empty nest” marriage, not just the “shifting nest” of college years and a few years beyond.

Read the rest…

The “Beautiful Lady” in the Grotto

Everything about the young girl named Bernadette Soubirous spoke of humility. If anyone had told her struggling parents how widely her name would become known, they never would have believed it. Yet it was this simple, virtually uneducated girl who had been chosen to receive the highest of privileges.

Read the rest…