What is the perfect gift? We tend to answer this question more in terms of what we want, but today’s Gospel teaches us that the perfect gift is what God is offering. One of the goals of the spiritual journey is to come to value, more than our latest desire, more than our perceived need—more than all else—what God offers. In reviewing today’s Gospel...

As Pope Francis blessed children's nativity scene figurines Sunday, the pope said that the Advent season is a time of conversion to make space in one’s heart for Christ to come and fill it with joy. “Advent, a time of grace, tells us that it is not enough to believe in God: it is necessary to purify our faith every day...

I just want to say thank you to you for the enormous gift you gave the Church yesterday. Thank you for publicly announcing your leave for mental health reasons. Thank you for your courage and grace. You have given a gift to Bishops, Priests, Religious and laypeople. Your own act of humbly expressing your need for healing and help...

“This is a story I’d like to tell since I’ve noticed a distinct lack of positive evangelization amongst certain sections of the Church, and I want to get a conversation started about reaching out to the marginalized segments of society. “I have an acquaintance whom I’ve spent a lot of time evangelizing over the past year...

The appointment of Cardinal Luis Tagle as prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization has prompted informed Vatican journalists to observe that Pope Francis may be hoping to put the Filipino prelate in place to become his successor. Pope Francis will celebrate his 83rd birthday next week, and his physical condition has never been robust...

“Catholicism, by which I mean real Catholicism, is a fighting faith,” writes David Carlin for The Catholic Thing. To which I would add that Catholicism is, or should be, an offensive rather than a defensive force. As followers of Christ we are not charged with preserving our own position. The Great Commission requires us to move always forward...

Simply beautiful.

It sometimes takes the worst of circumstances to bring out the best in people. When Mitch Morse, now 27, was only 4, his younger brother Robbie, only 4 months old at the time, suffered an injury that resulted in permanent brain damage and the need for continual special care. As the older Morse grew up, he formed the habit of anticipating what his younger brother would need...

Bishop James Conley announced Friday that he is taking a medical leave of absence from his ministry as Bishop of Lincoln, Neb. “I have been medically diagnosed with depression and anxiety, along with chronic insomnia and debilitating tinnitus, which is a constant ringing of the ears,” Conley wrote in a Dec. 13 letter to Catholics of the Lincoln diocese...

Millennials have earned a reputation for reshaping industries and institutions — shaking up the workplace, transforming dating culture, and rethinking parenthood. They’ve also had a dramatic impact on American religious life. Four in ten millennials now say they are religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center...

Truly is is fitting and just, right and profitable to salvation, that we should give Thee thanks always and everywhere, o Lord, Holy Father, almighty and eternal God; Who by Thy grace gave to the Blessed Lucy in the contest of her martyrdom the strength of unconquerable faith, by which she defied and steadfastly overcame the pains of fire and sword...

H/T Father Dwight Longenecker...

December 13 was the darkest day – with the least sunlight – of the old Julian calendar. Today in the Gregorian calendar is the feast of St. Lucy, whose name from the Latin lux, for “light”, reminds us who dwell in the still darkening northern hemisphere that our days will soon be getting longer again. Lucy will usually be depicted in art with a lantern...

The term “busybody” usually refers to one who is intent on the matters of others but looks little to his own issues. Busybodies also tend to focus especially on the faults, foibles, and troubles of other folks. Seldom are they chattering away about good news related to other people; more often it is the scurrilous and scandalous that occupy their minds...

American bishops from the Midwest met with Pope Francis this week with questions about the outcome of the Vatican’s investigation of Theodore McCarrick. “I did ask about the McCarrick situation. That was something that all of us were very interested in knowing where this was going. And very glad to hear that a report is coming...

Senior police officials in the Australian state of Victoria discussed by email the way that their 2014 investigation into Cardinal George Pell could deflect public scrutiny from an emerging corruption scandal in the force. In a 2014 email exchange, then-Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton and Charlie Morton, assistant director of media and corporate communications for the Victoria police department...

By nature, black holes are impossible to see directly. But astronomers can sense their presence by the way they interact with their environments, letting us glimpse these objects whose gravity is so strong that nothing can escape. In the past century, not only have astronomers shown that black holes do exist, but they’ve found dozens in our own galaxy...

Few topics in psychology are more controversial than sex differences [1]. Debates can be classified into two main types: (a) The description of sex differences, including both the size and variability of sex differences across a multitude of physical and psychological traits, and (b) The origins and development of sex differences...

Not Lucille Ball, but St Lucy is the one I love. It is her feast day today, and here are some reasons why she’s important: Firstly, there is the symbolism of her name. “Lucy” comes from the Latin for light–“Lux” or “Lucis”. Lucy is the saint of Light in the season of Advent which is the season of Light. Advent Light in the dark time of the year...

Many of our Protestant friends and even some Catholics don’t understand it. They think the Church makes up stuff, and the claim that Mary was conceived without original sin is often their Exhibit 1. They say it’s unbiblical and unnecessary. The feast gives us a chance to explain what the Church does, and what she doesn’t do...