Exactly 50 years ago, on December 8, 1974, sitting with the Blessed Sacrament, Karol Wojtyla wrote, “O, Maria, thou art beautiful.” Thus began The Theology of the Body. As many of you know, Karol Wojtyla would go on to become Pope Saint John Paul II and lead the...
Catholic Life
Penance Hard, Rejoice Harder
The blog emphasizes the importance of joy as a lifestyle for Catholics, particularly during the Easter season and everyday life. It explains that incorporating joy naturally aligns with scriptural teachings and our innate sensory experiences, urging readers to actively seek and cherish joyful moments daily.
The Mind-Body Impact of Gratitude
Since the late 90's, Dr. Robert A Emmons, a psychologist and professor at the University of California, has been one of the world's leading experts on the study of gratitude and its effects on the human experience. In his many studies, he found that gratitude not only...
Given and Entrusted
“We must ourselves be a total gift, a disinterested, sincere gift in order to recognize, in every man, the gift that he is, and to thank the Giver for the gift of the human person.” -Saint John Paul the Great, Meditation on Givenness Imagine a world in which every...
How Volunteering Overcomes Hopelessness and Sloth
A friend of mine was looking for practical ways to overcome hopelessness and the vice of sloth. In her research for Catholic-based solutions, she encountered tried and true remedies such as adding frequent confession and adoration to her routine. However, she told me...
The Body and Your Spiritual Life
If you’ve been a Catholic for longer than five minutes, you probably take for granted terms like the “spiritual life,” or “spirituality.” A close friend might have asked you recently: “How has your spiritual life been going?” And perhaps you have a “spiritual...
Receiving Knowledge of Christ
I’m slowly making my way through Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year podcast. Not his newest one, mind you—I’ve just passed the halfway mark for last year’s podcast. Sometimes I go weeks without listening, but I keep coming back because gosh darn it, at some point I...
Rejoicing In Boundaries
“Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground.” - G.K. Chesterton People in our culture today—and I am by no means excluding Catholics from this observation—are both fascinated and repulsed by the idea of boundaries. We abhor...
Jesus’ Sacred Heart
June is traditionally the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus comes to us most popularly through St. Margaret Mary Alacocque, a 17th century French nun. She experienced visions of Jesus in which He shared with her the...
A Fresh Start
“Behold, I am doing a new thing...” (Isaiah 43:19) Somewhere along the way of the Christian life—somewhere amid all of the Masses, the Rosaries, the novenas, and the Confessions—anyone pursuing a life of Christian virtue very often ends up in a rut. The experience of...