During his Sunday address to the faithful at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of his deep sadness at the Connecticut school shooting that left more than two dozen adults and children dead.
External silence is easy. Internal silence is hard to maintain.We live in a very noisy world.
True Devotion to Mary leads Mary’s devotees to imitate her virtues, particularly, her virtue of profound humility
Arizona’s ban on abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy will take effect this week as scheduled after a federal judge ruled Monday that the new law is constitutional.
“I felt like I could collapse at any moment. Various times I fell down outside on the street.” The former mayor Marcos Fidel Rojas recalled a trip to Rome where he had met Pope John Paul II. He thought, “I have a friend up there. And he had Parkinson’s. Why didn’t I pray to him before? Venerable Father John Paul II: come and heal me, put your hands on my head.” Dr. Antonio Schlesinger Piedrahita certified Fidel’s complete healing from Parkinson’s disease. “Yes, John Paul II gave me the miracle of curing me. My great promise to my healer is to spread devotion to him wherever I can.”
Difficulties, struggles and hardships do not lessen in life as we age. Rather, they just change their complexion. We change in and through them. They can become the vehicle for some of the greatest growth in our relationship with the Lord. What had been intended for our demise can become the path to our restoration. The saints of old, such as St. Paul, grew so accustomed to difficulties they began to “boast” of them. The question that we should ask ourselves when we face struggle, difficulty, failure, disappointment and the frequent pain of life is how we respond?
We all take as a given that the goal of Christianity is entering into eternal life; however, attaining this goal requires intense daily effort on our part. The spiritual life is not an easy endeavor because of our wounded human nature. True, Baptism washes away Original Sin, but we are left with the effects of Original Sin. We do not have complete control over ourselves. The spiritual life is a continual battle.
An anti-life activist has surreptitiously photographed her own abortion and posted the images online in what she claims is an effort to “demystify” the practice. The woman, who uses the name “Jane Young” on the site, claims the imagery commonly used by pro-life activists, is mere propaganda and that women are being used as pawns in a national debate.
One year ago today I delivered my son, a stillborn. For a moment he was placed in my arms quiet, blue, and limp. The midwife and her assistant then took him from me and began CPR. They could not find a pulse. He did not breathe. Following the orders of the on-call neonatologist they stopped working on him so they could call time of death. My little boy, James Fulton, 9lbs and 12oz, had been without a pulse for 61 minutes. Everyone stopped working. And then his heart started.
President Obama delivered a speech Monday at a New Hampshire high school during which he touted abortion and Planned Parenthood, then closed by invoking the blessings of God. The nature of the speech combined with the inappropriateness of the forum, and the invocation of our Lord, hints at cognitive dissonance.
It took tremendous courage to accept the will of God knowing that people would suspect infidelity to her betrothal,...
But because of sin, the multitude of individuals that came forth from this couple inherited disunity and enmity towards...
