During St. Teresa’s younger years she was quite ill and even crippled. After seeing how helpless the doctors were, she began to seek help from the saints in heaven that they might cure her. She writes in her autobiography that she took for her advocate and lord St. Joseph recommending herself to him with all earnest. It is to St. Joseph’s intercession that she was able to walk once again. She writes: “I saw clearly that as in this need so in other greater ones concerning honor and loss of soul this father and lord of mine came to my rescue in better ways than I know how to ask for. I don’t rec ..read more

The Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve tells about how the birth of Jesus came about. The Gospel of Matthew 1:18-23 is read at this Mass. During the Christmas Eve Vigil we hear that, “She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” and that “God is with us.” No one could know God is charity, except through this most important event in all of history – the Incarnation. Traditionally it is believed that Christ was born at midnight. Midnight is when it is darkest and this can be seen to represent spiritual darkness that is in the world. Only Christ, t ..read more

St. Therese had to wait to make her profession. As she waited for this day, she told God she would wait as long as he desired. Until that day she resolved to carefully “make a beautiful dress enriched with priceless stones”. Therese began applying herself to practicing little virtues by doing small penances that especially mortified her self-love. She was not practicing these virtues alone. St. Therese stated that the Blessed Virgin, “was helping me prepare the dress of my soul; as soon as this dress was completed all the obstacles went away.” The Bishop finally gave his permission and the com ..read more

Since man’s life on earth is a time of trial, and all who would live devotedly in Christ must undergo persecution, and the devil your foe is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for prey to devour, you must use every care to clothe yourselves in God’s armor so that you may be ready to withstand the enemy’s ambush. Your loins are to be girt with chastity, your breast fortified by holy meditations, for as Scripture has it, holy meditation will save you. Put on holiness as your breastplate, and it will enable you to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and your n ..read more

Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, or Our Lady of Solitude, is one of the titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Soledad, or Solitude, refers to the Blessed Mother contemplating the death of Jesus, her son. It is both a physical and psychological solitude for only a mother can know the pain the death of a child brings. A mother who has lost a child is truly isolated from those around her.  Under this title of Our Lady of Solitude, Mary is a model for those of us who withdraw from the world to pursue a life of contemplation. Devotion to Mary under this title commemorates the solitude of the Blessed ..read more

Who better is there as our model for the contemplative life than the Blessed Mother. She is the ideal of this life consecrated to seeking God and toward an intimate union with Him. Everyone who wishes to imitate Mary will soon realize that her soul was a beautiful garden of virtues. Chief among her virtues is silence. Silence and peace reigned in her soul even amidst the turmoil of the world around her.  It is only in silence that God can speak to our heart. This state of stillness makes us able to listen and to be receptive to Him and His will. Silence helps our emotions by calming the ..read more

One afternoon my family had the pleasure of serving dinner in our home to two friars from the Carmelite monastery of Mount Carmel in Wyoming. (Check out what they are doing over here at their website.) One of the things that still stays with me about the visit was the topic of the evangelical counsels. The evangelical counsels are vows that religious make in their desire to become “perfect”. The counsels are three: chastity, poverty, and obedience. These counsels are not binding upon all Christians, but are works that are more than what duty requires. Religious make a public profession of thes ..read more

Mary presents the Infant Jesus in the Temple and accompanies Him on His mission. She submits herself to the laws of purification out of obedience even though she does not need to be purified. We are in need of interior purification. However, our pride often seeks to exempt us from the law. We make excuses. Often we falsely believe that parts of the law of God just do not pertain to us.  Mary, who was influenced by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is our model of contemplative prayer and of purity of heart. “My eyes are ever upon the LORD” (Psalm 25). This describes Mary and her pur ..read more

..read more

“The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In the procreation and education of children, it reflects the Father’s work of creation. It is called to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading of the Word of God strengthen it in charity. The Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task.” (CCC 2205) Jesus spent most of his life hidden living within the context of a family. Today is the Feast of the Holy Family and the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph provide us with ..read more