The woman before us was frail, lying peacefully, unalert—a shadow of the fierce, intelligent, vivacious woman she had been. Her 95 years on this earth had been lived to the fullest. The years had not been without their trials and sufferings, but they had always been lived for God. With God as her lifesource, Joan [...]
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a 40-day pilgrimage toward the joy of the Resurrection. On this day, millions of Christians around the world will hear the words, “Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return,” as they are marked with the dust of ashes. Ashes are a sign of pride—we are [...]
For many years I heard phrases such as: “religious life is a higher calling than marriage” and “those who choose religious life want to live their lives entirely for the Lord.” But I rarely heard language which edified and elevated the vocation of married life. That was until I took a course with Dr. Timothy O’Malley on [...]
We frequently focus on Mary’s fiat, her courage to say ‘yes’ to God, using her example as inspiration to surrender to God’s plans, even when we cannot fully comprehend them. However, we often forget to examine the fiat of the man to whom she was betrothed. Joseph, a man of honor and integrity, discovers that his wife is [...]
Love is often misconstrued in our culture. We use the same word to describe our fondness for coffee, our favorite book, our dearest friends and family members. In relationships, love is reduced to a feeling, often bound up in lust. For some, love only exists in fairy tales, because of the hurt, betrayal, and pain [...]
When I was 17, I had to get blood drawn. My mom went with me, and the phlebotomist happened to be an old acquaintance of hers. Making small talk, my mom asked the phlebotomist how her daughters were. She mentioned that one of her daughters was going through Confirmation, albeit reluctantly, and that she was [...]
As a young girl, I always loved the Sundays when a Baptism took place in the context of the Mass. There were many reasons I found Baptisms captivating; for starters, they punctuated our usual Sunday routine with something out of the ordinary. But more than that, I was drawn up into the joy and the [...]
Whether we realize it or not, every time we bless ourselves “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of Holy Spirit” (or “in-name-of-father-son-holy-spirit-amen” if we’re trying to eat dinner quickly), we are not only making a prayer to God, but we are recalling our baptism. There’s nothing I love more on a [...]
The Jeweler's Shop, a play written by Karol Wojtyla, now Pope St. John Paul II, is explores love and the sacrament of marriage by telling the stories of three different couples. The play is divided into three acts: The Signals, The Bridegroom, and The Children. Through the stories of these couple (Teresa and Andrew, Anna [...]
For some, it is easy to dismiss the sacraments as empty rituals, meaningless signs. Indeed Ratzinger comments on this growing trend in his book Theology of the Liturgy: The Sacramental Foundation of Christian Existence: The man of today is certainly interested in the question of God, and he is even concerned about the problem of Christ; [...]
Caitlin Sica 