Spiritual Experience & Disciplines

In July, a woman went to MedStar’s Southern Maryland Hospital Center (MSMHC), part of the MedStar Health System, to give birth. Because of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, she had to give birth without any family members present. Soon after, her baby was taken to another room... Read more

The Gospel for Thursday of the 29th Week of the Year speaks of a great cosmic battle taking place all around us. In it, Jesus speaks of His mission to engage our ancient foe and to gather God’s elect back from the enslaving clutches of Satan, who was a murderer and a liar from the beginning... Read more

We find Mary throughout the Gospel of Luke contemplating the birth and childhood of Jesus. When the shepherds tell her about the angels’ Gloria in Excelsis Deo, she keeps this incident in her heart and meditates on it. She does the same thing after finding the twelve-year-old Jesus in... Read more

Editor’s note: The following essay by Dr. Thomas Howard, who died this past week at the age of 85, was originally a lecture given at Gordon College in June 1995.  It appears in the collection The Night Is Far Spent: A Treasury of Thomas Howard. My guess is that a great... Read more

I remember how we spent many of our Saturdays in my family back in Nigeria. We would go as a family to choir practice in the parish church to learn and rehearse the hymns for the Mass on Sunday. Then my mother would usually seize that opportunity and ask each of us to go for the Sacrament of... Read more

What could be worse than the answer to a question no one‘s asking? Here is Jesus, Son of the living God, putting before his disciples the single most sundering question: “Who do people say that I am?” Followed by that most amazing response from Peter: “You are the Christ,... Read more

Editor's note: We are sharing this post today, as the Fruits of the Spirit were the subject of today's first reading. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given unto our mission to the ends of the earth. Among His gifts are the fruits of the Spirit which deserve our attention today. The... Read more

Many in America spent Saturday and Sunday at prayer in the public square. It started in August with one Eucharistic Procession, with 3,000 people following the Blessed Sacrament through the riot-scarred streets of Madison to the Wisconsin Capitol Building. By the second... Read more

The mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way,” (Dei Verbum, 15). Tied up in this mystery is the mystery of the feminine genius, which John Paul II lauded in myriad ways and on multiple occasions. The Old Testament Scriptures offer fascinating insights into God’s gradual... Read more

Fourteen children whose mothers considered abortion were baptized last month in Madrid by the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Carlos Osoro. The newly baptized are children of women in vulnerable situations who considered abortion during their pregnancies. They were aided by the Más Futuro... Read more