February 2020

Could you be happy if you were in prison?  Or what if you were called at a young age to enter a cloistered monastery and live in seclusion throughout your life?  Could you find happiness if you were living in the utmost poverty having barely enough to feed your family each and every day?  The answer is “Yes.”  You most certainly can find happiness within any situation of life.  How? … Read More »Reflection 61: Where Happiness Comes From

HOUSTON (CNS) — Gertrudejane Holliday Stone, a parishioner at St. Mary of the Purification Church in Houston, was a Freedom Rider even before the term was coined. In an interview during Black History Month, the octogenarian recalled when she was just a 21-year-old college senior at Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1955 studying to be a teacher. She looked forward to Christmas break while riding… Read More »Houston Catholic recalls standing her ground on train by staying seated

In 2016, we lost our third child to miscarriage. Our oldest daughter was five years old at the time, and she had been eagerly anticipating the birth of her new brother or sister later that year. Our baby was too young to determine whether or not it was a boy or girl, but we both felt in our hearts that he was a little boy. The evening before his remains… Read More »Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows: Another Little Saint

This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by David Wester.                                                                                              Another Night with God Lowering light slants through windows once bright,Dissolves in… Read More »Another Night with God by David Wester — Catholic Poetry Room

Is it possible to know that someone has a deep interior life of prayer?  Even though this is “interior” and is a spiritual reality, is it possible to sense this externally?  Most certainly it is.  In fact, the deeper one’s life of prayer the more that this interior life will shine forth for others to see (See Diary #172). How about you?  What does your soul radiate?  When people see… Read More »Reflection 57: A Fire Within Your Soul

MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Mexico’s bishops called for action after a spate of slayings of women and girls—crimes known as femicide—that have provoked anger and protests, but also highlighted the country’s machismo culture and deep-seated problems such as impunity. In a Feb. 23 statement, the bishops said the crimes “for their brutality have left us perplexed and filled us with pain and sadness.” “In the face of this reality, the… Read More »Mexican bishops call for action, boosting families as femicide increases

February 23, 2020 St. Polycarp was a second century bishop and martyr, and an important leader in the early Church. He became a Christian while very young, and was a disciple of St. John the Apostle and a friend of St. Ignatius of Antioch. St. John appointed Polycarp as bishop of Smyrna (in modern-day Turkey), and St. Ignatius visited him there while on his way to Rome (where he was… Read More »St. Polycarp

Dr. Scott Hahn reflects on the Mass readings for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A).. Leviticus 19:1–2, 17–18Psalm 103:1–4, 8, 10, 12–131 Corinthians 3:16–23Matthew 5:38–48 We are called to the holiness of God. That is the extraordinary claim made in both the First Reading and Gospel this Sunday. Yet how is it possible that we can be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect? Jesus explains that we must be imitators… Read More »Holy as God — Integrated Catholic Life™

There are both interior and exterior difficulties we encounter as we attempt to form a daily habit of prayer.  Interior difficulties: discouragement, dryness, heaviness of spirit and temptations.  These difficulties are overcome through patience and perseverance.  Exterior difficulties: fear of what others may think or say, and setting time aside.  These difficulties are overcome through humility and diligence (See Diary #147). Try to set a daily time for prayer and… Read More »Reflection 53: Difficulties in Prayer

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When the Vatican’s wartime archives open to researchers March 2, it will be just the start of what should be a long, slow process of studying, analyzing and publishing findings, said the Vatican’s archivist and librarian. “We have to have the patience to wait and listen to the results” dozens of scholars are expected to produce over the coming years from what is known to be… Read More »Full look at Vatican wartime role will take patience, archivists say