“The woman’s soul is fashioned as a shelter in which other souls may unfold” (St. Edith Stein) About 1 in 5 Americans, ages 18 and older, bear the cross of a diagnosable mental illness. I am one of the adults who makes up that statistic. I have experienced first hand the weight of the cross that [...]
Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.St. Catherine of Siena Imagine the scandal that would arise if Pope Francis decided, on a whim, to move the papacy from Rome to another country (say, France) and begin to indulge in a life of luxury and avarice. Then suppose that the next six popes followed suit. [...]
Saint Gemma Galgani and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton devoted their entire lives to Jesus. They show us that we must run to His mercy and unite ourselves wholly to Him.
“In the middle of our life’s journey, I found myself in a dark wood.” So begins Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, one of the greatest poems of Europe’s Medieval Period. The long (over 14,000 line) epic is written as a first person account of Dante’s travels through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Heaven (Paradiso). Recently [...]
In the words of Claire Swinarski, author of “Girl, Arise!,” “I’m a feminist for the same reason I’m bold and honest and sometimes ragey: because Jesus was all of those things. In a time when women were some of the lowest of the low, Jesus embraced them with open arms.” I could not agree more. Yet, as I sat in my English class, I was wary of the next unit we were entering into: feminist literary criticism.
When I think of Jesus, anger is the last word that comes to my mind. I’m much more comfortable talking about him in terms of love, humility, mercy, and forgiveness — but rage? That’s why I find today’s Gospel, in which John recalls the moment in the temple when Jesus becomes enraged, so unsettling. This [...]
Holy women are an incarnation of the feminine ideal; they are also a model for all Christians. Mulieris Dignitatem, No. 27 Do differences unite us or divide us? When we encounter situations and ideas that are new or unfamiliar, do we respond with openness and curiosity, or are we guarded, uncomfortable and dismissive? These are important questions [...]
Being a committed Christian in the Roman Empire during the first three centuries of the Church meant you were willing to be radically countercultural — even if doing so resulted in death. In fact, this time period is often referred to as the Era of the Martyrs. As worshippers of pagan gods, the Romans often [...]
The Church gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine ‘genius’ which have appeared in the course of history, in the midst of all peoples and nations; she gives thanks for all the charisms which the Holy Spirit distributes to women in the history of the People of God, for all the victories which [...]
In a hurting world, which desperately needs to encounter God’s love and mercy, it can be overwhelming to think of what we can possibly do to make a difference. It may be tempting to become detached to the suffering around us; certainly, it is easier on the heart. Yet, if we are truly seeking to [...]
Caitlin Sica 