Commentaries
Waiting well during Advent
In this season of promise and possibility, we can learn to release our grip on the desires we long to see fulfilled, writes Elise Italiano Urenek. The God who chose to become incarnate can be trusted to provide his best for us, even through divine delays.
The faith of youth offers thrill of hope
Watching thousands of teens and young adults kneel in eucharistic adoration at a conference revived the weary soul of Catholic author Katie Prejean McGrady. Through this new generation of believers, the light of Christ will continue to shine.
Finding reason to hope amid the pessimism
Despite the torrent of bad news, especially about the Catholic Church, there are many people rolling up their sleeves to do holy, life-changing work that glorifies God one person at a time, writes Greg Erlandson.
Jesus is calling, even (and especially) in those we’d like to avoid
Sometimes the Lord seeks us in the most unlikely people, writes Effie Caldarola. Having divine compassion for the hidden suffering of others enables us to respond with love and kindness.
To conquer racism, become truly Catholic
Generations of African American nuns have proven that the Catholic faith can lead the way to justice and equality, writes Shannen Dee Williams of Villanova University. To do that, the church must first acknowledge its own role in contemporary racial crises.
My journey with elderly priests on path to eternal life
Since the early 1970s Helen McConnell has been caring for archdiocesan priests nearing the end of their earthly pilgrimage. It has been rewarding work and a spiritual journey for her too.
Where image is everything, spectacle of Christmas endures
Jolly old St. Nick, Rudolf with his red nose, Charlie Brown's friends on stage and George Bailey’s guardian angel all stir our sense of kindness, illumination and insight, and most prominent is the Nativity scene, writes Father Thomas Dailey.
Rather than curse our life’s situation, seek hope in Christ
The fault in relationships that don't satisfy or jobs in which we're stuck lies not in "our stars." Rather, the cure for the dismay many people feel this time of year is hope amidst darkness, writes Father Eric Banecker.
Tell those family stories – they link old to young
Sister Constance Veit points to studies that show young people, despite their screens, really are listening and learning when their elders tell relatable, funny tales. And Christmas is the best time for them.
The reformed liturgy, 50 years later
Even as some long for a nostalgic past where the liturgy was celebrated poorly in Latin, today's Mass in the Ordinary Form can be celebrated so that the awe of the divine presence is palpable, writes George Weigel.