Memorial Day weekend marks the start of traditional picnic and vacation time. The ordinary obligations of life recede, but there is never a vacation from our Christian vocation. Here are some ways to include something spiritual or religious in your picnic and travel. Pack a prayer in your picnic basket.

Little children repeat and repeat and repeat songs. Why? Because of the experience connected to the song. The song is fun, its words funny, it has actions easy to remember and delightful to do. Adults repeat songs, too. Is there a funeral that doesn’t sing “Amazing Grace” or “How Great

Sometimes Jesus Christ invites us: “Remain in my love.” Sometimes he gives a command: “Love one another as I love you.” These words are from the Gospel for today’s feast, that of Saint Matthias, Apostle. Fifteen years ago today my father died. Because my father’s middle name was Matthias, the

Only 1% of nones attend Mass weekly. 9% attend once a month. When analyzing this situation, some claim the nones want identity and stability. Pope Francis’ most recent exhortation Rejoice and Be Glad claims The Beatitudes give us our identity. “Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . the peacemakers.

Sister Maria Aloysia Wolbring Foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame On May 6, 1889, the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame, died of tuberculosis in Cleveland, Ohio. Due to extreme heat, she needed to be buried quickly, thus not allowing more than a few Sisters to be present

From the earliest years after Jesus rose from the dead, the tomb has been a symbol of the baptismal font. Just as the women carrying spices wondered how they would ever roll back the stone, the earliest Christians wondered whether they could surmount the impediments to new life in Jesus

“I am the vine. You are the branches.” Not a horticulturalist, I never stopped to think about what this really meant. I always thought the vine was the more important structural part of the plant, and the branches were less important—just leaves and stems. But the vine IS the branches.

Within the past couple weeks have you eaten ham or jellybeans or Easter eggs? Those foods have now become yourself. The ham is no longer in the refrigerator or the jellybeans in the candy dish. They are no longer just in us either; they are us. This might not be

  Beatrice Bruteau writes in The Easter Mysteries that we like to keep the roles straight, something Jesus didn’t do when he washed the feet of his horrified apostles. The Lord and Master was acting out of character. Aghast at the improper role undertaken by Jesus, Peter may have said

I love the stories during the Octave of Easter. My favorite is the story of the two disciples walking to Emmaus, scoffing at a Stranger who “does not know of the things that have taken place” but soon becoming quite impressed by the wise Stranger’s understanding of the Scriptures. I