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Read today's Daily Meditation and Reading »
Publisher's Letter
When he convened the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago this month, Pope John XXIII sought to open the doors and windows of the Church so that we could look out to the world and so that those in the world could look in on us. Continue »
Inside This Issue
A Year of Grace
Passing through the Door of Faith with Pope Benedict XVI
Fifty years ago, on October 11, 1962, Blessed Pope John XXIII formally opened the Second Vatican Council. The Holy Father called for the Council because he believed that the Holy Spirit wanted the Church to open its doors to the world. Continue »
Be a Hero for God
Strengthen your faith, and your life will change.
In our first article, we focused on the Holy Father's call to walk through the door of faith through study, which he called "content," and through our response to God's grace, which he called "act." In this article, we want to look at one specific way that we can make this Year of Faith a time when our faith grows stronger and brings us into an even deeper relationship with the Lord. Continue »
The "Faith" of Vatican II
What was the central message of the Council?
At first glance, we might wonder why Pope Benedict XVI decided to honor the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II by calling for a Year of Faith. Why not love? Or hope? Or peace? What is it that links the Council so strongly to the virtue of faith? Continue »
Heavenly Agents of Earthly Change
Living the Challenge of Vatican II
One of the last documents to come out of Vatican II was the pastoral constitution On the "Church in the Modern World" ("Gaudium et Spes"). Similar to many of the other council documents, "Gaudium et Spes" set the Church on a new course. Continue »
The Idea of Service Has Been Central
Pope Paul VI on Vatican II
Never before perhaps, so much as on this occasion, has the Church felt the need to know, to draw near to, to understand, to penetrate, serve and evangelize the society in which she lives; and to get to grips with it, almost to run after it, in its rapid and continuous change. . . . Continue »
Special Feature
Glowing in the Warmth of a Sacred Fire
The Story of St. Kateri Tekakwitha
In the frigid predawn darkness, a lone figure stood immobile in the snow: a young woman, oblivious to the cold, oblivious to the hour, alone with her God. She was just twenty-four years old, and her fragile health was failing. But her health had never been good, so why mind that now? What were these present sufferings compared to the life that awaited her? Continue »
Place Them in the Heart of God
A new book helps us to pray for our grown-up kids.
From the time we knew we had a baby in the womb, my husband, John, and I would place our hands over the spot each evening and commend that little one to our heavenly Father. Bedtime blessings continued until each of our six children decided he or she had outgrown them—but we still present their needs to God every evening. Continue »