On May 11, 1873, the steamer Kilauea deposited thirty-three-year-old Father Joseph Damien de Veuster on the landing at Molokai. Bishop Maigret told the disease-ridden crowd gathered there that he had brought them “one who will be a father to you, and who loves you so much that . . . he does not hesitate to become one of you; to live and die with you.” More »

Lapa Benincasa’s shrieks bounced off the walls of her kitchen and into the narrow streets of Siena. Her daughter Catherine, the twenty-fourth of her twenty-five children, had just shaved her head. More »

Mary was gracious because she was open to God’s grace. She never let anything keep her from receiving his grace. Do you know that you can be full of grace as well? More »

That word, “I am thirsty,” is of all the last words that Jesus spoke on the cross the most personal and the most intimate.
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When Fr. Mark first became a priest, he was so in love with Jesus that he would often spend hours before the Lord in prayer every day. More »

Christians have always understood Lent to be not only a time of repentance and conversion, but an extended preparation for the celebration of Holy Week. More »

In the Gospel of Mark, the first written notice that there were women who followed Jesus to Jerusalem actually appears near the end (15:40, 47; 16:1). Mark notes the presence of such women as silent witnesses to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. More »

Mary and Joseph come to the temple, the center of Israel’s faith, to carry out two Jewish customs: the mother’s purification on the fortieth day after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8) and the consecration of the first-born son (Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16). Jesus’ parents are observant Jews who greatly respect the Mosaic law and conscientiously fulfill its requirements (Luke 2:22, 23, 24, 27, 39). More »