Do you think Church history is dull? It's okay to admit it! But here are a few facts that might liven it up a little: Feeling pent up in the Vatican, Pope John Paul II used to sneak out to ski and hike in the Italian Alps. He did it over a hundred times before being discovered by a 10-year-old boy who pointed at him and shouted, "The pope! The pope!" The only Christian church in existence for the first 1,000 years of Christian history was the Roman Catholic Church. Most ...

Not many people automatically associate Ignatian spirituality with children’s Bible reading, but in fact it’s an easy fit. Children love stories and are experiential by nature, and the Ignatian method for meditation on Scripture offers just that.We start the meditation by asking God for his grace, just the way that Ignatius teaches us. Then we use our imaginations to enter into a Gospel story, sensing and feeling what’s happening in the scene.This method we’re describing ...

If there are children in any facet of your life, whether you’re a parent, a teacher, an aunt, or just the neighbor next door, then you know the constant refrain: “Don’t forget to say thank you!” Humans are by and large selfish creatures: we’re born wanting, but once we have whatever it is we want, then we’re off to wanting something else. And we forget to thank whomever gave us the thing that we wanted in the first place.Our culture clearly supports this wanti...

Everyone knows about St. Patrick. Or, rather, everyone thinks they know about St. Patrick. He was Irish, right? And he drove the snakes out of Ireland? And he has something to do with…green beer?

My grandmother told me she would have given birth to a dozen children, if she could have. When I asked her why, she responded that twelve seemed like a nice number. In contrast, my mother deliberately chose to have two children, spaced eight years apart, so that she could raise them as “two only children.” My grandmother remarked ruefully, “I never understood your mother.”Nowadays, families of more than two children are as rare as ice cream in the sun. Typical family size...

Let’s face it: we’ve always loved reading other people’s letters.Perhaps it’s a bit of voyeurism, this glimpse into someone else’s life; but more often than not, reading the correspondence of others—particularly of people we hold in esteem—leaves us with a humble understanding of how they lived in a day-to-day manner, how they expressed themselves to each other, and finally how they came to be the people we admire and strive to emulate.And when the corre...

I have a confession to make. When I was 16 years old, I was already in the convent, working in the department of our publishing house where we typed new manuscripts (on old really large machines...we're talking the 70s before the desktop computer). I typed and proofread Saint John Paul II's General Wednesday audience talks which eventually were published as one book titled The Theology of the Body. Yet, even though I can say I read them (almost 30 years ago now), and a understood them (a...

Far in the back row, against the wall, was a hand hesitantly lifted for a question. I invited her to respond. “Doesn’t forgiving someone over and over again,” asked the woman in a subdued voice, “invite them to keep hurting us?” She had been a regular attendee during a parish program on forgiveness I had been leading, but had never spoken until then. Tonight, however, we had been discussing Jesus’ teaching that we should forgive those who offend us seventy tim...

Back-to-school time can feel overwhelming for everyone—kids, parents, teachers. And it’s easy for our spiritual lives to get lost in the scuffle of new clothes, misplaced notebooks, and sports schedules. Here are some ways to make sure that you keep God in the mix:  Start your day together with prayer. Yes, mornings are hectic, but remember that the crazier they feel, the more you need prayer! It doesn’t have to be long—just a simple thoughtful Our Father is fine&mda...

Our world values what is slick and sleek, racing past the present to try out whatever is the next great thing. It is at polar opposites from the thoughtful, reverent listening that Pope Francis counsels us to develop in order to connect with our loved ones, our grandparents, and all those men and women who have lived and loved and have so much to share with us. But how do we go about getting them to share with us? First, on our part, we need to reflect that taking the time and sharing ...