Spirituality
To share the good news, first step into your inner room of prayer
Chris Stefanik points to the great saints who changed the world, and says our journey to holiness must be first an interior one in prayer. He suggests a short prayer for someone every day of Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday.
Let this year be a time of pardon and peace for you
Seminarian Eric Banecker encourages everyone to take advantage of Christ’s gift of mercy by going to the sacrament of penance, even if it has been many years since going to confession. Follow our series on the Year of Mercy.
Husband doesn’t know he’s dying; when should wife call for anointing?
Father Ken Doyle replies creatively to a dilemma of when and how a man's wife might ask a priest to anoint her husband, who has terminal cancer.
I believe: Every tongue, every land, united in heart
Our faith resides not in historical happenings nor in a big book of rules, but in the heart -- with one accord in the love of God, writes Michelle Francl-Donnay.
Use a tool from St. Ignatius this Lent to see handprints of God
Only in dim light could Effie Caldarola see the handprints of her granddaughter on a mirror. God's presence in the world is like that, and she recommends the Ignatian examen to see find those signs.
Prayers, care for sick are common ground for believers, pope says
In his message for the World Day of the Sick, celebrated Feb. 11, the pope expressed his hope that the day of prayer -- and the entire Year of Mercy -- would promote an encounter of people of different religions and lead to greater understanding among them.
Reader wants to move sign of peace, squelch singing at Communion
Father Ken Doyle answers two readers' suggestions for changing the Mass by pointing out what the church allows and encourages in the liturgy.
See Pope Francis’ message for Lent 2016
Read the pope's message in which he traces the history of mercy in God's covenant, through Mary the model of evangelization and to the works of mercy. He advises all not to waste the season of Lent.
The poor are at the center of the Gospel, pope says
Evangelizing the poor is central to the Gospel message and is less about giving social assistance than about converting hearts and healing wounds, Pope Francis said.
A jealous heart is an ugly, tormented heart, pope says at morning Mass
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jealousy and envy are ugly sins that grow like weeds in one’s heart, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass. A heart that is envious is not only tormented, but can even “lead one to kill,” the pope said Jan. 21 during the Mass in the chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae. […]