My excellent Latin teacher in college caught me by surprise one day. I thought I’d impress him with my deep culture by telling him how much I liked listening to the Ave Maria in Latin. He responded, “Oh really? Which one?” (There I was – busted – I didn’t know there was more than [...]
Have you ever found yourself so transfixed by the beauty of something that you become totally absorbed in it, or found yourself listening to a single piece of music over and over because it speaks so deeply to your heart and soul? That is what happens to me each time I listen to the [...]
Brother Reginald, the personal assistant to St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1275), once spied the great theologian in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. According to Brother Reginald’s account, Thomas was agonizing over whether he had written accurately of the central mystery of our faith, the Eucharist, and was presenting his concerns to the Lord. At that [...]
Arguably history’s most beloved and fascinating saint, we sometimes forget that Joan of Arc was not a legend. She was a real person with a real calling from God to do something heroic for Christ’s Kingdom. But Joan didn’t take any up her sword on her own initiative. She was not a political phenomenon [...]
Eleven of the twelve Apostles betrayed, denied, or abandoned the Lord Jesus in His moment of deepest need – Calvary. Mary, His mother, stood by Him until the bitter end. According to John’s Gospel (19:25-27), Our Lady stood by the Cross of Jesus during the entire length of His suffering. Tradition adds that she [...]
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was largely known for her work in India, so we tend to forget that she was born in the tiny Eastern European county of Albania. What many also may not realize is that Albania was the first country in the world to establish atheism as its official state religion. Albania’s [...]