The unassuming "just man" who once took the child Jesus and his mother into his care and protection now watches over the whole Body of Christ in his characteristically vigilant but background manner. As Pope Pius IX declared on December 8, 1870, St. Joseph is "Patron of the Universal Church." And though even fewer Catholics are aware of it, St. Joseph is also intimately connected with the Second Vatican Council. Continue »

It is late at night, almost seven hundred years ago, in the lovely central Italian region of Tuscany. Inside a small room, a young woman is speaking animatedly about God. Her hands fly back and forth, flickering in the candlelight. Opposite her, struggling to listen but barely able to remain awake, sits her confessor—a trained theologian and a saintly man. Continue »

In Crossing the Threshold of Hope, Pope John Paul II singles out five saints as exceptional models of prayer. Four are well known to most Catholics. But following on the heels of Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Ignatius of Loyola comes a name that leaves many of us scratching our heads. Who is St. Seraphim of Sarov? Continue »

Among Donald Martin’s most valued possessions are a Cross pen and a few three-by-five index cards. The pen has seen better days, and the cards are dog-eared, but their owner wouldn’t trade them for anything. Mementoes of Father Walter Ciszek, they testify to a friendship that began in the early 1960s, when Martin was a third-grader at St. John of the Cross Parish School, in Western Springs, Illinois. Continue »

The amiable Redeemer approaches the end of life. My soul, behold those eyes grow dim; that beautiful countenance becomes pale; that heart palpitates feebly; Continue »

I shall instruct you and teach you the way to go; I shall not take my eyes off you. —Psalm 32:8 Continue »