If you are the parent of a school aged child, you likely have some anxiety about the upcoming school year. Some families may be eagerly anticipating school reopening; other families may feel uncertain about the effect school reopening may have on their and other’s health. Many families likely feel stretched to accommodate remote and hybrid […]

Concept If you are the parent of a school aged child, you likely have some anxiety about the upcoming school year. Some families may be eagerly anticipating school reopening, hoping that schools are not effected by another shut-down. Other families may feel uncertain about returning to school and the effect school opening may have on […]

The Meaning of Divine Mercy The message of Divine Mercy is simple, and yet it takes an entire lifetime to explore. Divine Mercy simply (and extraordinarily!) means that God’s love is greater than our sin and weakness. As we trust in Jesus and rely on God’s merciful love, we become more joyful and more able […]

Humility Humility is the virtue by which a Christian acknowledges that God is the author of all good. it is a necessary virtue because one cannot know Jesus or be conformed to the likeness of Jesus without the virtue of humility. Humility is annexed to the Cardinal Virtue of temperance; it moderates pride, vanity, and […]

Praying for Joy During a Pandemic With your family, pray through the joyful mysteries of the Rosary with the meditations below. Pause after each mystery to further contemplate how you might be called to apply the “5 ingredients for joy” to your own life — particularly during this unique season. The Annunciation + Docility Docility […]

Six Feet Apart Rewind your imagination to a pre-pandemic Sunday morning Mass at Ascension. You enter the sanctuary and see unmasked faces smiling, singing, or whispering hushed instructions to wiggling children. You feel the bustle of bodies squishing into already-full pews. You share the sign of peace with an open hand and heart. After Mass […]

If the Church is not Crying… Rewind your imagination to a pre-pandemic Sunday morning Mass at Ascension. Feel the bustle of bodies squishing into the already-full pews. See a mother straighten her daughter’s hair bow, a father remind his son to genuflect, or a grandmother remove her grandchild from an elbow-deep plunge into the baptismal […]

The Sensory Experience of a Feast As Catholics, we are often playfully criticized for the all of the “bells and smells” of our faith. While the customs of our faith may seem ordinary to many cradle Catholics, imagine bringing a friend (who is not familiar with the Catholic faith) to Mass for the first time. […]

In your pre-pandemic life, how frequently did you walk in or out of a church sanctuary, dip your fingers in Holy Water, and bless yourself with the sign of the cross? If you are like many others, you may have took this practice for granted, without full gratitude for the gift of having Holy Water […]

If you are a younger Catholic, you may not be aware that sharing the “sign of peace” did not become a common part of our liturgy until about a half-century ago — which makes the practice relatively modern in Catholic terms! Although not mandatory, handshakes and exchanges of the phrase, “Christ’s Peace be with you,” […]