“I Just Can’t Pray” John looked out the window. Streetlamps and windows in neighboring homes lit the darkness of the approaching night. His gaze dropped to the desk before him. There, a few inches before his hand, lay the Bible. Normally at this time, he read from it for ten to fifteen minutes. Tonight, nothing
“How well do you pray?” To that question, the average Catholic probably would answer, “Not as well as I’d like to.” The better the Catholic, the more likely it is that such would be his answer. To those of us who are dissatisfied with our efforts at prayer, it is a comfort to remember that
To the Future—with Confidence Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Is your outlook on life habitually a hopeful one, or do you usually expect the worst to happen? The nature of our temperament, whether cheerful or gloomy, depends to a great extent upon the state of our emotional and physical health. A person who
Visions and Revelations in the Development of the Spiritual Life A brief survey of the evolution of the highest spiritual life in the light of Teresian teaching has brought out how absolutely erroneous it is to characterize the mystical life as a life full of visions and revelations. For St. John of the Cross, there
The Pillar of the Family The basic moral principle of Domestic Society is: the family is the natural unit of society and the right of education belongs primarily to the parents, not to the State. The family in the natural order is the only divine instruction in the world. God did not found the American
Our Steadfast Hope The principle of strength through weakness is not a mere paradox, a formula invented to shock people out of their complacency. The truth, in our present existence, is never quite comfortable. Zen Buddhists use assertions flatly contradicting everyday experience as a means to arouse lazy minds to stimulating contemplation. Great religious teachers
The Saints Prove That You Can Overcome Weakness and Temptation It is a strange thing how little we Catholics, who make so much of devotion to the saints, really understand of the secret of sanctity. We read the lives of saints, and we are filled with reverence and admiration. We see their statues in our
How to Read Early Christian Texts Before we can begin to examine the various writers and documents of the postapostolic age and beyond, we need to pause for a moment to address the differences between the writings of the early Church and modern literature. It is tempting to read early Christian documents as though they
The Gifts for Glory Swift Victory “Hurry up and wait” is now a familiar call in battle. On decks, in dug-outs, or at the council tables of foreign ministers of the hot and cold wars, the same “stand-by” order is a commonplace. In a struggle for power, or at least for an advantageous position, not
Catechesis about Mary Impacted Her Life: St. Kateri Tekakwitha I needed a job back in the summer of 2008, and the opportunity opened up for me to work as a camp counselor at a summer camp named Camp Tekakwitha, in the Diocese of Green Bay. I didn’t know much about this young saint and I
