In preparing couples for marriage, I enjoy asking them what seems to be a simple question: “So, what is love?” Now for many of us, the word love is among our favorites. On any given day, I would wager that we utter the word many, many times. But do...
I don’t think one has to be a mystic or even a serious thinker to see the hand of God at work in daily life. God’s presence is ubiquitous and whispering softly to those willing to listen to His voice. I have two very recent examples of His...
Once there was a man named Bill who owned a small grocery store in a little Midwestern town named Willow Bluff. He was a simple man who ended up making a big difference in the lives of many people. Most other small businesses in town had closed, due...
In 1998, the Congregation for Catholic Education and Congregation for the Clergy issued a joint declaration regarding the Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons. The document mandates that candidates for the Permanent Diaconate receive...
Forty years ago, in 1976, a 21-year-old man named Peter was involved in a serious car accident in Chicago; he suffered brain damage, and went into a deep coma. The doctors told his family he probably wouldn’t survive, and that even if he did, he’d...
This is indeed a strange rally cry. But it is strange only until we recall what the Gospel is. St. Paul, arguably the greatest missionary ever, defines it in Romans 1:16: the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for...
A Maryknoll Mission priest wrote, “Over my last eight years in Egypt, I have been visiting foreign prisoners serving 20- to 25-year sentences in Egyptians prisons for [selling or possessing] drugs. On my first visit to Qanatar Prison, some of the...
