In June 2002, a gunman entered Conception Abbey in Missouri and killed two monks before killing himself. The man had no known connection to the abbey or any of its monks. No motive has yet been discovered. Continue »

My last boyfriend called it “stacking.” “You’re stacking,” he’d say, when he caught me unnecessarily reviewing every problem that I might possibly have in a lifetime all at once, rather than dealing with problems that were present and solvable. Continue »

Millions of people drink coffee every morning. For many of them, it’s the one sure thing that will get their “batteries” charged for the day. Continue »

We are seated on faded plastic chairs perched on the dirt floor of a one-room corrugated tin home. It belongs to Ovalia, a forty-three-year-old Guatemalan woman who is expecting her ninth child. Her face is lined, her hands rough. Her eyes are weary, but they seem to shine with an inner light. Continue »

Fire and division—two powerful images packed into one brief passage of scripture. Sometimes, it can be difficult not to question God’s compassion when he speaks to us through such dark images! Continue »

Leprosy was a dreaded disease in biblical times. Besides suffering physical disability and disfigurement, a person afflicted with leprosy was considered ritually unclean and was forbidden to come into contact with people who were healthy (Leviticus 13:45-46). Segregated from society, those suffering from leprosy lived on the outskirts of towns and begged for alms, relying on charity for their survival. Continue »