On his feast day, meet Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the patron Saint of teachers, who profoundly impacted education as we know it today.

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Katharine Drexel. She is the second American-born Saint and known for her heroic generosity.

In honor of Black History Month, here is a list of nine Black Saints and their stories that are worth knowing.

To encourage a restful, restorative season, here are twenty-five ways to get cozy in these first, wintry months of 2025.

On the Feast of Saint Nicholas, learn about this generous saint and how his example is the perfect model as we prepare for Christmas.

Recipes shared among friends are nourishing for the body and soul.

As we enter into the season of hope, Advent, let us anticipate the Jubilee Year of Hope and the invitation to bear hope in this world.

On the Feast of Saint Luke, we explore the unique distinctions among the four Gospel writers.

No matter what season we find ourselves, God in His wisdom gave us Mary, who meets us where we are with the love of a mother.

You likely don’t need any reminders that May is jam-packed with celebrations and events, ranging from milestones like graduations and the end of the school year to Memorial Day,  Mental Health Awareness Month, and for us Catholics the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Chances are good that if you are at all affected by the cadence of the academic calendar, this all goes by in a blur.  It does for me, at least. Truthfully, I sometimes roll my eyes when I learn about all of the (obscure) causes that have adopted a month. However, at around the same time I was reading Father Henri Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer, I learned that National Nurses Week is celebrated the week of May 6th. Timing is everything, isn’t it? Especially about books. Father Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest who wrote extensively on the relationship between faith and community, pastoral ministry, psychology, depression, and vulnerability. His most famous book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, connects many of these themes. He was a speaker, author, theologian, retreat leader, professor, and chaplain. Likely because of his willingness to speak to the topic of vulnerability, he was (and continues to be) widely accessible. The Work of Healing Nouwen’s lens in The Wounded Healer is specific to those providing spiritual care, or hope of any kind, to others in an increasingly existential culture. He is explicit in the need for those of us who have experienced wounds to walk with One Who has been wounded (Christ) and emphasizes the irreplaceable role of those who stand in the gap between the wound and the wounded seeking healing. Uncannily, he describes the landscape of ministering to an increasingly hopeless generation (in 1972), which is all the more relatable today. Whether it be through our professional lives or our vocations, often the desire to offer hope and healing comes from a desire to be healed ourselves. And because we know that “hurt people, hurt people,” Nouwen named the necessity of addressing the work of healing in ourselves before we can be of comfort or hope to another. By remaining vulnerable enough to acknowledge our brokenness, we allow the healing of Christ who has experienced deep wounds to step in and heal us and in turn make us instruments of healing. Tending to Our Wounds As I mulled over the wisdom in Nouwen’s words, I called to mind some of those in my life who have attended to my wounds, both physical and spiritual. Specifically, I remembered the two nurses assigned to me after the unforeseen complications of my daughter’s delivery. They were so attentive to me. They did not leave my side through any procedure, advocated for my desire to nurse my little one, created a makeshift tube top for me after days of living in a gaping hospital gown, washed my face, and stayed close and updated us while my husband cared for our daughter. I also remembered my spiritual director who walked with me as I tried to make sense of a deep loss. She gently prompted me to enter Scripture alongside the brokenhearted–-the uncomfortable readings of the Holy Innocents (see Matthew 2:16-18) and Mary weeping at the tomb of Jesus (see John 20:11-18). Her presence itself did not provide healing, but she offered accompaniment and hope. Our Wounded Healer Ultimately Christ is the Great Physician—the Wounded Healer. The One Who tends to our wounds. The One Who is intimately familiar with being wounded, having been wounded Himself. Nouwen makes the connection that if the Lord of the universe has experienced wounds in order to be close to humanity, it stands to reason that our wounds might offer a place of healing as well: for ourselves and others.  Saint Gregory of Nazianzus wrote, “For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved” (source).  In other words, God redeems what He assumed. By taking on humanity, Jesus offers redemption to us. In the same way, Jesus assumed the experience of suffering, not as a valiant act of chivalry or showmanship, but to enter the most wretched brokenness we experience, that it might be redeemed. Without directly saying so, Saint Gregory and Henri Nouwen were speaking the same language, nearly 1500 years apart. In relatable terms, Nouwen offers examples of vulnerability, accompaniment, self-awareness, and attentiveness to those we may walk with through difficult seasons. By encouraging deep listening and fellowship, The Wounded Healer encourages each of us to take seriously our invitation to offer and seek hope in a hurting world. May it be so.   Keep track of your notes while you join us in reading this new BIS Reads pick! Our spiral journals flip open to make it easy to jot down quotes you love or insights you gather from Nouwen's words! MARY SHOWS US THE WAY Just as a mother might pass on a beloved family tradition to her daughters, Mary shares the recipe for growing in virtue with us. This study on Mary's Virtues will breathe new life into your everyday, beginning right in Mary's home. GET HOME STUDY

I just about coughed out my coffee while chatting with a friend and lifelong Franciscan when I heard her casually mention how one-dimensional Saint Francis of Assisi had become—reduced to the “patron saint of the birdbath.” So much beauty, wonder, and respect for all of creation is lost when Saint Francis is relegated to the backyard, she mused.  Her words echo through my mind each time I notice birds gathered around feeders with Saint Francis in tow, or today as we celebrate Earth Day and the patron of the environment. I mean no disrespect to Saint Francis, our patron and icon of faithful stewardship, but even the Franciscan community whom I have come to adore, yearns for a deeper understanding and theology of our particular calling to be good stewards of creation. Saint Francis’ lived example and composed Canticle of Creation are stunning, and his is not the lone voice of our Tradition inviting us to dig a little deeper and to live lives marked by simplicity and honor for our fellow creatures of all kinds. There are few topics in the wealth of the Church’s teachings that are written about more beautifully in Scripture and Tradition than the gift of creation and the call to be good stewards in every way—perhaps especially regarding the physical places where we live. Interestingly, in my nearly forty years, I have never heard a homily on the matter. Not once.  We talk frequently about time, talent, and treasure as the gifts we have been given to share, and as such are called to steward well. How gifts that are freely received need to be held with open hands. And it has led me to wonder why we so seldom make the leap to stewardship of the primary gift we have been given: our home. As we honor our created world on Earth Day today, we have an important opportunity as people of faith to draw upon the richness of our Tradition, and, in doing so, we ourselves will grow. Rather than recycle (pun intended) the same message we have used every other year, I wonder how it might look if we got familiar with our roots a bit, and leaned into the beautiful theology of stewardship we have at our fingertips, and what far-reaching effects that could have.  Let us look at what our Tradition teaches us about our world and role in it: “The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God.”  // Saint John of Damascus (source) “Humankind is called to co-create so that we might cultivate the earthly, and thereby create the heavenly.” // Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Abbess & Doctor of the Church “Every creature is a glittering, glistening mirror of divinity.” // Saint Hildegard of Bingen (more by Saint Hildegard) "The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole. [ . . . ] Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards the human person, considered in himself and in relation to others. It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling on the other." // Pope Benedict XVI (Charity in Truth [Caritas in Veritate], § 48, 51) “I don't want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle of these farmers who live without any protection in the forest. They have the sacrosanct right to aspire to a better life on land where they can live and work with dignity while respecting the environment.” // Sister Dorothy Stang, a School Sister of Notre Dame de Namur from Ohio. (She became a martyr in 2005, killed by a hired gunman for her work among the poor living in the Amazon, where she advocated for their home and human rights against wealthy area loggers and landowners.)  Sister Cleusa Carolina Rody Coelho, was also martyred for her work defending the human rights of Indigenous people in Brazil in 1985. "Changes in lifestyle based on traditional moral virtues can ease the way to a sustainable and equitable world economy in which sacrifice will no longer be an unpopular concept. For many of us, a life less focused on material gain may remind us that we are more than what we have. Rejecting the false promises of excessive or conspicuous consumption can even allow more time for family, friends, and civic responsibilities. A renewed sense of sacrifice and restraint could make an essential contribution to addressing global climate change." // United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good) "Equally worrying is the ecological question which accompanies the problem of consumerism and which is closely connected to it. In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and to grow, man consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way. [ . . . ] Man, who discovers his capacity to transform and in a certain sense create the world through his own work, forgets that this is always based on God's prior and original gift of the things that are. Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray. Instead of carrying out his role as a co-operator with God in the work of creation, man sets himself up in place of God and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, which is more tyrannized than governed by him." // Pope Saint John Paul II (On the Hundredth Year [Centesimus Annus], § 37) “Let the earth bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever. Mountains and hills, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Everything growing on earth, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. You springs, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Seas and rivers, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. You sea monsters and all water creatures, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you birds of the air, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you mortals, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.” // Daniel 3:74-82 "A true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. [ . . . ] Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society." // Pope Francis (On Care for Our Common Home [Laudato Si'], § 49, 91) All of these quotations and examples are just a small glimpse into the vast and beautiful collection of sources from martyrs, bishops, Saints, prophets, and popes, who have written throughout the ages. I hope you will consider it as a timely invitation to more fully embrace the practice of good stewardship as a mark of our embodied faith.

If you are like me, occasions like International Women’s Month bring to mind a vast number of women and the work they are about in the world: religious Sisters, moms, doctors, counselors, artists, professors, scientists, volunteers, mentors, coaches, aunties, grandmas, etc. One of these groups that has been of particular interest to me for a long time is the female Doctors of the Church. Of the thirty-seven total Doctors of the Church throughout history, four are women.  On one hand, I wonder if it is the hidden nature of women’s spiritual lives throughout history that explains why we have yet to discover (more than four) women whose gifts and depths of insight have significantly contributed to the spiritual life. On the other hand, the obvious invitation is to get to know these women and their unique lives that contributed so much to the faith of the Church, so that we can celebrate them and learn from them how to best embrace our own gifts and callings. As C.S. Lewis points out in his book Mere Christianity: “How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints” (source).  Saint Hildegard of Bingen // Germany 1098-1179 // Feast Day September 17 Saint Hildegard was a Benedictine Abbess. She is remembered for the vast number of talents and gifts she possessed and shared with her community and beyond. In her lifetime she was a poet, pharmacist, artist, mystic, theologian, and composer. In fact, she wrote the largest number of medieval chant compositions in existence. She was devoted to the Holy Spirit and received many visions from Jesus. Her primary writings are collected in Scivias, the title meaning, “know the ways of the Lord.”  Toward the end of her life, Hildegard and her community faced deep suspicion after allowing a young man who had been excommunicated to be buried in the cemetery at their convent. Although he had received final Sacraments and reconciled with the Church, her community was placed under an interdict, where they were denied the Eucharist until just a few months before Hildegard’s death. Pope Benedict declared her a Doctor of the Church and canonized her as a Saint as recently as 2012, more than eight hundred years after her death. Saint Catherine of Siena // Italy 1347-1380 // Feast Day April 29 Saint Catherine was a Dominican tertiary, who is remembered best for her role in mediating a conflict between popes on the brink of schism. For this reason, she is very often depicted with a ship on her shoulder in acknowledgment of her faithful support and intervention in preventing further conflict. In her lifetime she began a monastery, served the poor, traveled, promoted church reform, and wrote hundreds of letters, as well as a book, The Dialogue. Saint Catherine experienced a mystical marriage to Christ at age twenty-one, at which point she received encouragement to move out of the isolation of her cell in her parents’ home and return to living life in community with her family. She began a life of caring for the poor and those who were ill. Additionally, she received the stigmata, although it was only visible to her. She died at the age of thirty-three and is the patroness of Europe and Italy, people persecuted for their faith, miscarriage, nurses, illness, and fire.  Saint Teresa of Avila // Spain 1515-1582 // Feast Day October 15 Saint Teresa of Avila lived during a tumultuous time in the Church—the Reformation. Her story is unique because rather than extreme piety that drew her to the convent, it was her rebelliousness instead that motivated her family to send her to a convent. For years she lived among the community of women of marginal spiritual fervor or commitment. It wasn’t until years later that she began to receive visions of Jesus prompting her to become more and more His own, that she began to cooperate with the calling she had been given. With great opposition from the women in her community and beyond, Teresa began to reform the Carmelite order that had become so lackadaisical over the previous years.  Teresa was supported in her efforts of Carmelite reform by her friend Saint John of the Cross, who wished to see much of the same in his male counterparts. She is remembered for her wit and good cheer—a quote widely attributed to her is “May God protect me from gloomy saints.” Icons of Teresa often include a heart and arrow, due to her heart pierced by the love of Christ, as well as a book representing her writings (The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle). She is the patroness of headache sufferers and Spanish Catholic writers.  Saint Thérèse of Lisieux // France 1873-1897 // Feast Day October 1 Saint Thérèse’s story is likely familiar to us for two reasons. First, she is the most modern of our group, and second, her invitation to the ‘“little way” can make the spiritual journey feel far less daunting. Following her sisters into religious life, Thérèse received a special dispensation from her bishop after receiving approval from the pope to enter the Carmelite convent at the young age of fifteen. There she lived a life of prayer, resolving to become a saint through her little way of small acts of love and sacrifices for others as her daily offering to Jesus. Instructed by her mother superior (her older sister Pauline) to collect her thoughts, Thérèse wrote The Story of a Soul, her autobiography. Thérèse died at the age of twenty-four from tuberculosis. Knowing she was dying, Thérèse proclaimed from her deathbed that she intended to spend her time in heaven “doing good upon earth,” and that she would “let fall from heaven a shower of roses.” Although she entered a cloistered convent, Thérèse became the patroness of missions and florists because her simple and profound pursuit of Jesus reverberated through the Christian world through a daily giving of small acts of love. Take heart Often when we read stories of the lives of the Saints, it can feel daunting to hope that we could emulate the mystical or dramatic circumstances within which these individuals lived. But take heart! The good news is that we are not called to emulate their lives specifically, only to be inspired by them. The call for you and me is to bring our gifts and talents, our whole selves, to the time and place where we have been called and to trust God with the rest.

Here in Denver, the National Western Stock Show is a big annual event and has been happening  since 1906. It begins with an iconic parade of Longhorns through the streets downtown, ushering in two weeks of western-themed fun. Folks travel from all over the United States to bring their animals, rodeo prowess, and everything from pony rides to 4-H and university level shows of animal husbandry, cattle auctions, beekeeping, sheepdog herding, mutton busting, pro-rodeo, and carriage driving.  If you have never been, it is worth a visit! Area schools have long taken the opportunity to bring students, who are learning about pioneers and western expansion, on field trips to the stock show for a hands-on experience—especially enlightening for students growing up in a more urban area. While chaperoning one of these trips, I had my first up-close encounter with sheep. Our group of giddy second graders opted to attend a sheep shearing demonstration. Gathered around, we watched as the shepherd gently, and often firmly, used the shears to remove the wool from his sheep. At first, the sheep was tolerant, maybe even comfortable having the matted wool from its back and flanks removed. However, as the demonstration continued and the shearer got closer to its face, legs, and belly, what had begun as a tolerant demonstration became a bit of a wrestling match between the sheep and the shepherd. By this time, the shepherd was on the ground holding the anxious animal steady for the safety of each of them.  To a gal who did not grow up on a farm, this was an important illustration for me of God as the Good Shepherd: gentle, strong, slow-moving, and calm. It also brought great clarity to Pope Francis’ encouragement to his bishops to “be shepherds, with the ‘odour of the sheep.’” Based on my limited understanding of sheepherding, there is very little accomplished from a distance (unless of course, you have a sheepdog). Scripture is fairly littered with analogies of sheep, goats, and shepherds. If we are honest, our best working knowledge of these creatures very likely comes from homilies and Scripture stories, rather than personal experience. We have probably heard that sheep are stubborn and not particularly bright—in need of protection, and prone to wander away. For example: The LORD is my shepherd. // Psalm 23:1   We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way. // Isaiah 53:3 All the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. // Matthew 25:32-33  They were like sheep without a shepherd. // Mark 6:34   “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.” // Luke 15:6  -“Behold, the Lamb of God.” // John 1:29 We know sheepherding to be a nomadic, lowly profession. Those who were left to tend the sheep were economically poor and physically unable to contribute to the hard work often required for harvesting and maintaining crops. Shepherds, therefore, could be children, the elderly, men, or women—whoever could be hired out or spared. The Lord has a special fondness for sheep and identifies Himself over and over as a Shepherd, but He doesn’t stop there.  The Lord in His humility is also identified as the Lamb of God: Shepherd and Lamb, Beginning and End, Human and Divine. God navigates so seamlessly in the arenas we might imagine to be either/or. And yet . . .  Just as the sheepdogs at the stock show are required to successfully and painstakingly herd the entire group of sheep into their pen to complete their competition, our next move heading into Lent is to humbly identify ourselves with sheep so desperately in need of our Shepherd. Lent is the hardest season for me to enter into because it always asks me to go a little further and give a bit more. More self-awareness, more generosity, more sacrifice than what I might otherwise choose. Not as a drab duty, but as an adoption of the selfless love of God.  If you are looking for a Lenten devotional to accompany you through the season of Lent,  Rescued: Lent with the Lamb of God is a beautiful option that focuses more deeply on the Scriptures, images, Sacraments, and stories of the season. Who better to lead us to Holy Week than the Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God?

Baptism can conjure up all sorts of images for us: perhaps the Baptism of a child, the reception of a loved one into the Church on Easter Vigil, or your own entrance into the family of God. To be sacramentally Baptized is to do an about-face from living one way, to living another.  Advent ushered in the new Liturgical year, and we shifted from hearing the Gospel of Saint Matthew (year A), to that of Saint Mark (year B). Mark is the earliest to have written his Gospel, having recorded his account around the year 70. The feast we commemorate today, the Baptism of the Lord, comes from the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel. Mark sets the scene by including prophetic words from Isaiah 40:3:  “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths’” (Mark 1: 2-3).  Immediately, Saint John the Baptist is described as having appeared in the wilderness, doing what was prophesied by proclaiming a baptism of repentance and baptizing folks from all over the Judean countryside. He quickly and humbly proclaims that the one who is to follow him will baptize with more than water in the Holy Spirit.  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Although not personally in need of the baptism of repentance, Jesus Himself is baptized by John in the Jordan River. Immediately following His baptism, a voice from heaven is heard saying: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).  On some level, isn’t that a phrase we are all waiting to hear?! Perhaps from our earthly parent(s), but certainly from God at the end of our lives on earth: “You are my beloved son (daughter); with you I am well pleased.” Having been claimed and affirmed by the One Who loves us best, Who has held us close, witnessed our highs and lows, and rooted for us all the way. To have seen us through it all and be pleased with what has been seen, feels like the very way I hope to be welcomed into Heaven one day—or even with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).' And, it feels worth noting that God spoke these words to Jesus at the time of His Baptism—not at the end of His life, but at the very beginning of His ministry.  Several weeks ago I was running errands with my toddler. Slowly plodding down the sidewalk as she likes to walk all by herself now, she was looking in every window. At one point, she realized that someone was standing behind the blinds of this neutral-looking, strip mall office. She paused, waved, made funny faces, and generally delighted the woman behind the blinds. What I heard from my daughter next took my breath away. “I love you,” she said to the woman behind the glass. Unfortunately, she couldn’t have heard, and likely wouldn’t suspect that this passing child was whispering words of love to her, but she was! At that moment, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Lord was doing that for me all day long, and in all likelihood, I do not suspect such lavishness. Rather than waiting to hear the voice of God, reserved for some special meeting in the unknown future, what if this passage from Mark of the Baptism of Our Lord were a reminder to us that we are beloved by the God of all—not only when we finish things, but when we have the courage to start them, when we’re working unnoticed (or so we think) in a bland strip mall office building. It may be that we don’t have to cross any sort of “finish line,” or check a box before we hear these beautiful and affirming words from God that Jesus hears today. Take some time in prayer with these scriptural reminders of God’s love for us:  We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. // 1 John 4:16 For I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither present things nor the future, nor powers, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. // Romans 8:38-39 See what love the Father has bestowed in letting us be called the children of God! Yet that is what we are. The reason the world does recognize us is that it never recognized the Son. // 1 John 3:1 This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. // John 15:12 Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed, the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant down to the thousandth generations toward those who love Him and keep His commandments. // Deuteronomy 7:9 With age-old love I have loved you;    so I have kept my mercy toward you. // Jeremiah 31:3 The Baptism of the Lord is a beautiful example of God demonstrating perfect love. Scripture is littered with reminders that the Lord loves us, too. As we begin our short stay in Ordinary Time before the beginning of Lent, it feels appropriate to be on the lookout for this unexpected and lavish love that the Father speaks over us, his beloved children. HIS WORD CHANGES LIVES God is speaking to you through His Word. In this personal study, you will learn to hear God's voice by reading slowly and praying deeply. BEGIN THE JOURNEY

Perhaps the most fitting snapshot to begin a conversation on Saint John, the “beloved disciple,” is by looking at the first and last sentences of his Gospel account: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). “There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written” (John 21:25) If it wasn’t clear then, it is now: John’s mission to spread the Gospel was intimately linked with words. After years of traveling with Jesus, and bearing witness to numerous miracles and pivotal moments in Jesus’ ministry, John committed the rest of his life to spreading the word about Who Jesus is and what He had done. In total, John wrote five books of the Bible: the Gospel of John, three Epistles (1, 2, and 3 John), as well as Revelation. More than his ministry, John’s whole identity was marked in a particular way by the many events to which Jesus invited him to bear witness. He was with Jesus as He performed miracles, at the Transfiguration, with his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper, and in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was John and Simon to whom Mary Magdalene ran with the news of the empty tomb. Ultimately, John had the honor of caring for and being cared for by Mary as her son.  John was present for many substantial events in Jesus’ earthly life.  It is not uncommon for someone who has experienced something of magnitude, good or bad, to identify closely with those who were with them through that experience. Soldiers in war, survivors of natural disasters, and people who witnessed something miraculous all share in common a particular kind of intimacy to which others may not be able to relate. So it seems with Jesus and John. One thing that is unique about John is that he often identifies himself as the “beloved disciple.” Sometimes this can give us pause. After all, why does Jesus love John more than others? I wonder if it has less to do with who is best loved by the Lord, and how the love of the Lord affected John’s understanding of himself. John’s proximity to Jesus defined him. It seems that John could not, or did not desire to identify himself apart from the One who loved him. Knowing what it was to be a close friend of Jesus, to have experienced the glimpses of God through Jesus’ miracles and teachings, permanently changed him. Rather than identify as John the disciple, he identifies as the one who is loved by God. And so we all are. In the same way, we can invite Jesus’ proximity to define us. We will not experience the call to follow Jesus in the same way that John did. And, we remember that the Lord is ever present to us through the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, the Christian community, the Eucharist, and through our service to “one of these least brothers” (Matthew 25:40). Emmanuel, ‘God with Us,’ offers the same nearness to us and, like John, we cannot help but be changed. What experience of God’s nearness has defined you?

A surprising thing happened on March 10, 2020. The state of Colorado declared October 2 Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini Day. Such a declaration was a first on many levels, but in our state, it is the first day dedicated to a woman, and a woman religious at that! Given her tenacity, this shouldn’t come as any surprise—she was a trailblazer. Saint Frances Cabrini, whose Feast Day is celebrated today, is a woman worth celebrating: patroness of immigrants and women’s missions, and the first American citizen to become a Saint.  A Pioneering Woman Colorado residents are likely familiar with the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado. However, her ministry began far from the Rocky Mountains, and it stretches even further beyond them to this day. The shrine is located on the property Mother Cabrini purchased in 1910—only a handful of years before her death—as a summer camp for orphan girls, and has been used as a retreat house since the orphanage closed in 1967. For those who have visited the shrine, they will likely remember the spring near the grotto. When Mother Cabrini purchased the land, she got it inexpensively because it had no source of water. As the sisters began to use the property for residents and campers it became necessary to find a source of water. As Providence would have it, just as the sisters were about to give up due to thirst, a spring was found in 1912 that continues to flow to this day. Patroness of Immigrants Although Saint Frances Cabrini was born in Italy, she had a substantial impact on the American Church and beyond. Very often she is acknowledged as the inspiration for Saint Teresa of Calcutta. In a letter to her archbishop, Mother Teresa mused that she might have the same impact on India that she saw Cabrini had had on the United States. Growing up, Cabrini hoped to one day be a missionary, yet her poor health was a deterrent in all of her attempts to join various religious orders. However, in 1880, she and seven sisters founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When she became a sister, she took the name “Xavier” after the famous Jesuit missionary, Saint Francis Xavier, though she was known to most as “Mother Cabrini.” Like Saint Francis Xavier, she hoped to be a missionary in China, but when she asked the pope’s blessing in 1887, he encouraged her “not to go east, but west.” Two years later, she and several sisters departed for New York City. Upon their arrival in New York they were met with prejudice, suspicion, and an overall hostility (not to mention, they had to face extreme poverty and dire living conditions). Despite these difficult circumstances the sisters gained a foothold among New York’s Italian immigrants and began to open schools, orphanages, and hospitals.  A Woman With Grit In the upcoming movie depicting her life story, Cabrini is remembered as a force—a woman who advocated for herself and for those she served. Whether embellished or not, stories have been passed down of Mother Cabrini entering a grocery store, shopping, and thanking clerks for their donation to her charity as she walked back out with her required supplies. In many ways, her contemporaries did not know what to make of her. All the while, she had to be tough as she experienced tremendous prejudice towards herself both as a woman amongst the male leaders of the city, as a woman serving in a new way within the Church, and as an Italian during the height of anti-Italian sentiment. As word spread of their successful missions, the community was invited to serve immigrant communities all around the United States and, later, the world. Cabrini’s most extensive work focused on New York and Chicago, but her impact is seen as far as California and Washington state, and even China! Mother Cabrini was ahead of her time. She loved Jesus and those whom she had been sent to serve and did so seemingly without compromise. She blazed a trail for women who wished to be missionaries with every reason to have been discouraged. Given this little sneak peak into the life of a relatively unsung hero, I hope I have whet your appetite for the upcoming movie Cabrini, scheduled to release in March 2024.  “Did a Magdalene, a Paul, a Constantine, an Augustine become mountains of ice after their conversion? Quite the contrary. We should never have had these prodigies of conversion and marvelous holiness if they had not changed the flames of human passion into volcanoes of immense love of God.” // St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

On an errand for carpet cleaner this morning, I stopped into a store known for their low prices. It was one of those rare occasions where I had one thing on my list. As I walked toward the check-out lanes, the women’s clothing department prices listed on large signs caught my eye. Racks of women’s tops were listed for under three dollars.  As a frugal shopper myself, the sign stopped me in my tracks. I have been lured by these deals before. And yet, knowing what I do about the cost of living, minimum wage, and the dignity of the human person, there is simply no way that the people who produce these garments are making anything near living wages. The fashion journalist Lucy Siegle made an important point when she said, “Fast fashion isn’t free. Somewhere, someone is paying for it.” Companies large and small love to boast about their low prices. At a time when prices on everything seem to be going up, low prices can make a difference in a household budget. The question that we, the faithful consumers, are left to ask is: At what cost? Are we inadvertently supporting sweatshops and slave labor by our consumerism? Pope Benedict XVI emphasized this problem: "In many cases, poverty results from a violation  of the dignity of human work, either because work opportunities are limited (through unemployment or underemployment), or [quoting Pope Saint John Paul II in Laborem Exercens] 'because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family'"  (Caritas in Veritate, § 63). Dignity of work  Nearly everything from the coffee that we brew, to the strawberries on our oatmeal, or the clothing that we wear, arrived in our hands after having been harvested/sewn/assembled by the work of another. There is tremendous dignity in having work to do and a product to create. Since the Garden of Eden, cultivating a craft, tilling the land, or earning a wage has been the way humanity exists and knows itself in the world. And it is inherently good! Problems begin to creep in when we see those who produce the goods we seek as means to an end. As we become more comfortable or numb to the reality that for a product to be cheap, the conditions and wages of the worker become less and less humane. We have a tremendous culpability for our participation in such a system. Venerable Fulton Sheen reminds us, “You must remember to love people and use things, rather than use people and love things” (source). -Fulton Sheen {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Wants & Needs Our participation in dehumanizing systems stems from one of two places: A need to purchase things inexpensively A desire to acquire an abundance of things  For folks who are feeling the pinch of tighter budgets, growing children, or lack of shopping options, being selective about the products that we buy can feel a little like a luxury in and of itself. It is a lot to ask someone who is struggling to feed their own family to pay a higher price, so that another may feed theirs. Although not exempt from the responsibility of recognizing the dignity of the person whose work we support, the lion’s share of responsibility does not rest on the shoulders of those who are economically struggling. In this global economy, those of us who have options of where to shop and how much to spend also have a responsibility of Christian witness that we are obligated to demonstrate through our finances. Honestly taking stock of wants versus needs, being educated about unjust working conditions and wages, and supporting those whose practices are ethical (if paying a bit more) is an important part of our participation in a society that sees all people as image-bearers, made in the image and likeness of our God. This all being said, I wish to offer you a list of ten ways to be an intentional consumer. Not all may be practical for your state in life. But many of them are doable for a lot of us! 10 Ways to be an Intentional Consumer: Purchase second-hand, first. Repair items rather than dispose of them. Donate used clothing/use hand-me-downs. Support industry that is Fair Trade certified. Shop local (small businesses/farmers markets). Invest in products that will last. Request coffee shops/grocers/parishes to serve fair trade products. Simplify your wardrobe. Research your favorite company’s labor policies. Invest in companies that support ethical practices.