I almost broke my tooth on it.It was the evening of Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas season, and my parish church was celebrating as many churches and families do in France, with a galette des rois—what might be translated as a King’s Cake.We don’t just sit down and eat this cake, mind you. There’s an age-old protocol that needs to be followed having to do with the little charm that bakers hide inside the cake. The youngest child present must hide under the table a...

Do you know someone who has left the Church? Who do you ask to pray for your loved ones? Sometimes St. Monica is invoked on behalf of children who have strayed from the faith. And she definitely can be a powerful intercessor. But there is another intercessor we should never forget when we pray for friends and family who have left the Church: our Blessed Mother. And in September as we remember her birth, it’s a good time to remember that she is there to help us.Here are some ...

I have been amazed at how deeply concerned people are about "discovering the will of God." When we are young we want to find out God's plan for us. When we raising a family and pursuing a career, we want to know if we are doing God's will. And in mid-life and beyond we want assurance that we spent our life doing what God had in mind for us when he created us.On this first anniversary of the canonization of Mother Teresa, I thought it would be helpful if we asked Mother Teresa h...

As the publicist at Pauline Books & Media, I’ve had the pleasure of reading so many of our titles—from teen dramas to delightful picture books to spiritual guides. But as I read Forever: A Catholic Devotional for Your Marriage by Jackie and Bobby Angel, I got excited.I finally felt like a book was speaking to me in a heartfelt and humorous way. Granted, I am part of the exact target audience of Jackie and Bobby’s mostly millennial fans, but that further cemented for me that...

So your child just came home from church, where she actually listened to the homily, during which Father commented on the spiritual works of mercy; and now she’s asking you what he was talking about. You have a dim memory of spiritual and corporal works of mercy…but can you remember them? Or, come to think of it, talk about the 10 commandments, the creed, or the beatitudes?We just added a new book, The Beatitudes Explained, to our Explained series, which is aimed at c...

by Maureen QuinlanI am 25 years old, and I have attended 24 weddings. That is neither an exaggeration nor hyperbole. I have sat through 24 “I dos,” and first dances, and cake cuttings. I have seen every bride beaming and every groom looking like he’s the luckiest man on earth. This also means I’ve had to scour 24 registries for a gift that says, “I love you as much as a close friend, but really only know you as well as a distant cousin.”I detest the wedding re...

There’s nothing quite like a wedding, is there? It’s a time filled with the promise of new beginnings, and ancient commitments, and ongoing love. Unfortunately, we’ve come to see it really in one context only: the weddings of couples committing to creating a family together.But the image of weddings and marriages comprises far more than that.Both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament describe how God marries his bride (that is, those who believe in him), who will ultimately dw...

by Jackie AngelI hated planning our wedding.Thinking about this one-day event for nine months about made me want to stick a chopstick in my eye.Not because I felt like I did it all by myself (I didn’t), nor because I don’t like having fun (I do), or because I hate sparkly things (I love sparkly things), but because in a Pinterest-obsessed world where everyone is competing to have the most creative centerpieces that are way better than yours and a wedding that is the most original sin...

Loss. No one wants to think about it. When a loved one dies, we can rejoice that they are safe with our Father in heaven; but—humanity being essentially self-centered—our first thought is generally about how we feel. Our loss. Our grief. Our loneliness.And if that’s true for adults, it’s particularly true for children.In fact, grief is far more difficult for children to navigate than it is for adults. There are a lot of reasons for this. Preschool children generally perce...

As Catholic Christians, we know that prayer is vital to keeping our soul in good health, cultivating virtue, and growing in intimacy with God. If prayer is an important element of your life, then you most likely have a desire to share it with your spouse. Sometimes this can be an awkward feat, though, since we all have different personalities and preferences in types of prayer, or especially because we may have never seen a prayer life modeled or talked about by a married couple. Hopefully shari...