This Sunday’s gospel contains some of the most typical and forceful words of Jesus’ preaching: "Love your enemies" (Luke 6:27). More »

Imagine how discouraged this woman must have felt! For twelve years she had futilely sought a cure for her bleeding disorder, only to be disappointed time and time again (Mark 5:25). More »

The story you are about to read is the earliest known account of a Christian martyrdom. Written about a.d. 156, within a year of the event it describes, it is an authentic eyewitness report of the heroic death of an elderly man named Polycarp. More »

Lent is the ideal season for the practice of lectio divina. As the darkness of winter gives way to the light of spring, we spend forty days in the process of conversion, turning our hearts away from sin and toward the light of Christ. More »

The superscription tells us that David composed this psalm when he was at his very lowest point—when he had committed the horrible sin, not only of adultery with Bathsheba, but, worse, of sending her husband to his death—a sin that was brought home to him by the fearless prophet Nathan. If ever a man needed forgiveness, David did at that moment. The words of this psalm are used in Christian liturgies all over the world. More »

A survey of American Catholic couples by the Lenawee Center for Pastoral Research at St. Andrew’s University of the Ozarks found that less than two percent of husbands and wives ever read and discuss the Bible together. "Even among couples where both spouses read the Bible individually, only one in twenty read it together," reported Sr. Therese Cardigan, D.N.E., who directs the research center. More »

Our God is a God of surprises who often works in unexpected ways to bring his saving truth to his people. More »

He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak" (Mark 7:37). . . . More »