The Word Among Us

Saints & Heroes Resource Articles

Saints & Heroes Resource Articles

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In Crossing the Threshold of Hope, Pope John Paul II singles out five saints as exceptional models of prayer. Four are well known to most Catholics. More »

The Gospel according to Mark is printed in every Christian Bible, but, even so, it has managed to remain (in many ways) like the pearl of great price buried in a field, waiting to be discovered and able to enrich spiritual treasure seekers with unexpected rewards. More »

The amiable Redeemer approaches the end of life. My soul, behold those eyes grow dim; that beautiful countenance becomes pale; that heart palpitates feebly; that sacred body is abandoned to death. More »

The Transformation of Katharine Drexel

What is a prophet? A strident voice denouncing injustice? A wild-eyed visionary calling sinners to repentance? These images hardly fit Katharine Drexel, a refined, wealthy woman who disliked being in the public eye and felt strongly attracted to hidden prayer. And yet, like the biblical prophets of old, this self-effacing heiress became a voice in the wilderness and a countercultural witness to the gospel call to justice. More »

From Slave to Saint

The girl was walking in the fields some ways off from her home, when two strangers appeared and asked her to pick them some fruit. Brought up to show courtesy to adults, the nine-year-old hurried to obey. Not until she was in the forest did she realize it was a trick. More »

Two Tables, One Banquet

One day around 1780, an Episcopalian stepmother opened her King James Bible and introduced her stepdaughter to Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. . . ." Though the two were not close and the woman was preoccupied with many cares, the moment was extraordinarily significant. More »

St. Stephen, First Martyr

When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:19-20) More »

Transformed in love

It always amazes me how God works extra hard to bring good out of evil and injustice. It’s even more amazing how some people who are suffering some form of injustice allow God to take hold of the unjust situation and baptize it, as it were, so that it can produce godly fruit. Nowhere is this dynamic at work more dramatically than with the witness of St. John of the Cross. More »