Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, and since he is my favorite President, I will write about him today, even when leading up to Valentine’s Day with 14 blogs about heart. For Lincoln I chose this quotation from Mark’s gospel: “Wherever your treasure lies, there your heart will be.

Five million pilgrims arrive in Lourdes, France, each season to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Mary identified herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception,” which is now engraved on the Miraculous Medal. People of faith touch or drink the waters from the spring at

The passage recounting the Lord’s agony in the garden is one of the most emotional in the Scriptures.  Filled with fear and dread, Jesus asks three disciples to be with him. He says, “My heart is full of sorrow, to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake” (Mark

I enjoy reading. Trying to make my favorite relaxation educational, I often read biographies and autobiographies. Recently I read The Luckiest Man, Salter’s book about John McCain. Then I read The Truths We Hold by Vice-President Kamala Harris. Both (one Republican, the other a Democrat) made “we the people” their

God is transcendent, a word that seems to focus on God’s distance. Yet in a theological sense, transcendent means “otherness.” God is that which we are not; God is completely other. Yet God is imminent. Scripture portrays God as very near desiring to share God’s love in the Big Bang,

I hope you pray for religious sisters, priests, and brothers often. Today is a special day to do just that in the diocese of Toledo. (Consecrated Life Day, begun by Pope John Paul II in 1997, is really on February 2, but is often celebrated on Sunday.) Also pray for

On the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, Pope Francis issued his apostolic letter “Patris Corde,” “With a Father’s Heart.”  It’s a short easy-read describing how Joseph loved Jesus. Joseph’s was “a love placed at the service of the Messiah who was

When Solomon asked for “an understanding heart,” to judge the people, God answered the request: “I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you” (1 Kgs. 3:12). Some

What are your favorite books of the Bible? I love Luke’s Gospel, Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, and Deuteronomy. Surprised by that last one? A book that explains the Law of Mount Sinai and recaps the themes and events of the Pentateuch is not a page-turner. However, in this month