What is an Indulgence?
The word “indulgence” always made me feel a little uncomfortable. Growing up Catholic, I knew it was something Martin Luther got upset about when he separated himself from Catholicism back...
What is Marian Consecration?
As Catholics, we have an incredibly rich spiritual buffet presented to us. Holy Mother Church offers prayers, devotions, liturgies, and traditions that speak to every personality and life stage of...
What I Learned from St. Francis Xavier
This year, the right arm of St. Francis Xavier is travelling across Canada, giving thousands of Catholics the opportunity to venerate the first-class relic of a Saint who is said...
Learning to Love Jesus with St. Gemma Galgani
Let us run to Jesus, Heart of Love, Heart full of tenderness. Let us ask Jesus to give us the riches of His pure love—to breathe only for love, to...
The Annunciation: One "Yes" at a Time
The Annunciation is a marvel to me. As it should be, I suppose. You see, unlike so many women who hoot and holler with joy at the news of a...
Divine Mercy and the "Spark" of the Sacred Heart
It has been just over six years since I made a pilgrimage to Krakow, Poland to visit the Shrine of the Divine Mercy. I was able to pray in the...
The Life After: A Poem for Holy Saturday
I speak now of the Life After, which I can imagine, and not the AfterLife, which I cannot, although He spoke of it many times. I look up at Him...
Fasting and the Gift of Good Friday
For many of us, Good Friday is a day to get through. No meat, plus fasting, plus something about two small meals and one larger meal, usually equals low energy,...
Lodgepoles: On Holy Thursday
In another lifetime, I spent a summer working in Yellowstone National Park. I lived with a park ranger, wore a wide-brimmed hat, a khaki button-up shirt with green forest service-issued...
Ideas for Displaying Palm Sunday Palms Around Your Home
Sisters, please tell me I am not the only one who has, admittedly more than once in my life, lost a palm from Palm Sunday. Some time in between folding...
Making Holy Week New
Tomorrow, we enter into the holiest week of the Church’s year. If you experienced God’s love and mercy in a new and powerful way this Lent, Holy Week may be...
Giving Our Lives to Jesus: Lessons from St. Joseph
A poor but noble man was once betrothed to a beautiful, virtuous young woman. Before the wedding, his fiancé became pregnant. But she was—and would remain—a virgin the entirety of...
